General Care Discussion :: Question about shell from new RES owner

[Roazbear]

Hello

I have a 3-4 year old female RES. Abigail appears to be healthy with a strong appetite. I've been noticing lately when I do a water change that I find dark peeling pieces from her shell that are the size and consistency of a fingernail. They are partially translucent. I'm assuming this is a normal part of shell growth BUT I would feel better hearing this from somebody who knows more than we do so far.

Thank you
Roazbear

[Jeremiah]

It sounds like she's trying to shed, but at her age the pieces shouldn't be the size of a fingernail. Can you post some pictures? You will need to upload them from a site like Photobucket.

[steve]

If the pics are small enough, click on Full Editor to attach it to the message.

[Roazbear]

This is a piece I found when doing a water change. There were 3-4 of these from a week or two. Hopefully the image comes through.

[ljapa]

Looks perfectly normal. She is shedding her scutes.

They grow in layers and eventually the ones on top shed. It's actually quite healthy as long as there is still healthy scute underneath.

It means your doing things right!

[steve]

I agree with ljapa. Plus, it's a marginal scute and those take a little bit longer to shed.