Red ear shed

[marisa]

Hello!

The turltle I got off a friend is doing well but I have a couple problems.

He is 13 so I assume he is not growing much, but his shell has started constantly shedding since he got here. In pieces, but constantly. I am not over feeding him which some people tell me might be the reason....I thought I might have been so I cut him down to turtle pellets every three days, and he has minnows in his tank, a dozen last about two weeks.

Any ideas? I don't see any fungus on his or anything so I don't know whats going on. Mind you this turtle hasn't seen sun for the past 13 years and now he is outside during the day in a HUGE kiddy pool with full sun of course except his shade area. Does this mean something?

marisa

[backdraft1320]

Turtle Skin and Scute Shedding
==============================


Copyright by Valerie Haecky. This document may be freely
distributed for non-profit use, provided this notice is
included.

Skin shedding:
A little peeling occasionally is fine. Turtles shed their skin like
other reptiles, but more continuously. Mine usually shed more for a
while, then less or not at all. As long as the shed sking is thin
and tranlucent, and you don't see anything unusual on the skin, and
the shedding is not excessive, don't worry. If the shedding is continuous,
or the skin looks sore or red, or the shedding is very heavy, you may
have to deal with a skin fungus. Have your turtle checked by a veterinarian.
You may also soak the turtle in an idodine solution twice a day for
15 minutes and keep it warm and dry outside the water overnight for a while.

Shell shedding:
Turtles shed occasionally the outermost layer of their scutes. They are
thin, translucent scutes. If the whole scute is shed and the bone becomes
visible, or if shedding is continuous, you may have a fungus problem and
should have your turtle inspected by a veterinarian. As an immediate
measure, remove the turtle from the water except for a 30 minute bath
twice a day; keep it warm and dry; soak twice a day for 15 minutes in
iodine solution or sponge off with Nolvosan.



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THANX TURTLECARE.NET

[Shane Tesser]

I haven't kept any in years but i do recall mine having done the same thing. In fact all of them did the same thing. I noticed where you live when you started the thread, im not to far away from you so i am assuming that your water is as hard as mine, althought the mountain slopes more towards me than you. I do recall however that even though i have hard water, i was always told by every pet store that i had a calcium deficency in my tank, and was always told to buy these large square tablets to add to the water. I honestly can say that i was about twelve years old at the time, and can't really remember if it cured the problem or not, but i would probably research this just to be safe, s.t.

[marisa]

I have heard, idodine, novlosan, saline, salt and a dozen other treatments.

I think the sun is helping it, but its definitly constantly shedding. I dunno. I am going to take him to the vet if idodine baths dont help.

marisa