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I figured it was warm enough today to take Frankie on a little outside trip.
She did her usual wandering, but showed no interest in looking for a nest site (her eating habits have changed, thought it was possible she was gravid). She was out for a good 20 minutes or so, then kept going back to the stairs to the house, so I figured she'd had enough. Gave me a pretty good scratch when I picked her up though, actually broke the skin!



I like this pic, it shows the blues in her eyes...


"I has a long neck!"


Smudge came over and sniffed her for about 10 seconds, then got bored and retired to the shade.






Oh yeah, you can see still not much progress on her scutes Though there are pieces here and there that have come off, none of the major ones have shed...

Wow she sure is big. I know everyone says not to pull the scutes blah blah blah. Those scutes are way past the chance of hurting new growth their probably on held on by dried algea. If they come off with ease there okay to pull.

Frankie is such an adorable girl!

Lol, it's funny how everyone who sees her says, "OMG, she's huge!", but she's really only 8.5" SCL

Every once and a while I poke at the scutes a bit, but they're on there solid. It's like they're crazy glued on! Haven't given them a tug in a little while though. Could give it another try next time she's dried off...

I like her cool green eyes.

Nice pictures. These are such cool animals! haha

How old is Frankie? Have you noticed if she's still growing?

Not sure how old she is. I have suspicions that she's about the same age as Ralph, who's turning 16 this year.

She hasn't grown at all in the 2+ years I've had her.

BullDog wrote:Lol, it's funny how everyone who sees her says, "OMG, she's huge!", but she's really only 8.5" SCL

I think its because she looks really thick too, umm bulkier I guess lol. My female is 9inches and she looks much more aero dynamic I guess. How tall is her shell? Mines 2.5ish

Oh my gosh! Painteds, you were so right!!! Went to do a water change today, and Frankie was up on the basking area. Thought it wouldn't hurt to give the scutes a tug again while she was nice and dry. Pulled with just a bit of pressure on one of the worst ones, and it came off with a *pop*!
Well, I just went to town after that! Frankie didn't seem too keen on it, but she didn't jump back in the water, so it can't have been that bad. Most of the worst ones came off whole. A few only pieces came off, and some were still quite stubborn, but more than 50% of the old scutes came off!

And the scutes underneath look healthy and were hard!

I took a soft tooth brush and gently scrubbed the new scutes with a bit of fresh, warm water.

And now, without further ado, pics of Frankie's beautiful new shell!

You can see in this pic how it's really evened her shell out. She used to have big spikey scutes, particularly the two marginals closest to her neck, and along the back.
Also, you can see how the shell is less spiky at the back, when you compare the right side to the left.


This shows one of the ones where only half the scute came off. But I figure now the "new" edges of this one will start to dry and lift, and maybe they'll come off soon without too much fuss.


And this is her with the pile of scutes I took off.



When I put her back in the water, she looked kind of confused for a few minutes... I think she was feeling the water on the new scutes, and it felt different.
Then after her usual shrimp treat, she went and itched those new scutes for 5 minutes at least!



Painteds, Frankie and I owe you a huge THANK YOU!

wow hahaha her scutes were hanging off barely!

Wow big difference! I'm thinking she wanted to make it up the stairs herself

Lol, Steve, I think she did. I could see her little brain working, how to get up. She kind of went back and forth. There was a carpet on one side, and a drain pipe on the other side, and she kept going from one to the other, like she was seeing if it was high enough to get up the step


I'm just loving looking at her new shell! It's so nice and brown!

I'll have to post up a closer pic of some of the old scutes... You can actually see 2 or 3 layers of old scute built up!

Oh yeah, and here's an older picture of Frankie's thickness (or as I like to call it, her cheeseburgerness).


Looks like she's at least 3.5", maybe even pushing 4".

Lol cheeseburgerness, thats cute

Yep as i thought the dried algae was holding her scutes on. She looks much better now!