Both humans and animals shed our outer layer in one way or another. We as humans shed our dead skin cells and turtles shed their skin and scutes.
This article looks into how to fix retained scutes
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How to fix retained scutes:
If your pet turtle never sheds its scutes then the material will build up over time and this can cause issues in your turtle.
Issues that can develop include infections and issues with circulation.
Here is how to fix retained scutes:
Adding vitamin D:
Your pet’s diet will be a big determining factor of whether the animal is healthy or not and whether its scutes will shed normally or not.
If your pet lacks enough vitamin D in its diet then its scutes may not come off easily or quickly.
If this is what’s happening with your pet then give it wheat germ once a week to help get the scutes to start shedding.
Wheat germ is high in vitamin E and this vitamin will supplement your pet’s lack of vitamin E.
In addition to helping with the shedding, the wheat germ will also provide your pet with thiamin, zinc, phosphorous fiber, and folate.
Other foods that are rich in vitamin D, that you can give your pet, include tomatoes, steamed sweet potatoes, blueberries, and apple skins.
Be careful when giving the sweeter foods as these contain sugars.
Change your lighting:
Another of the reasons why your pet has retained scutes is that its UV lighting is faulty.
UV bulbs should be replaced every 6 months, this is because the lights lose their ability to produce UV rays over time.
Your pet won’t be able to produce vitamin D and shed its scutes if it isn’t getting enough UV exposure.
If your pet’s light bulbs have not been replaced in a while then the result may be retained scutes.
You can rectify this by replacing the bulbs in your pet’s enclosure. The shedding process should start soon after you do this.
The manual way:
Your pet’s scutes will usually come off on their own but you may want to help out a little if they become stuck.
You can do this by using warm water, and a soft toothbrush to gently rub the scutes to help them fall off.
When doing this be very gentle and avoid pulling the scute off.
Pulling the scute off may damage the tissue under the scute and pulling it off will also be painful to your pet.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Tortoise Bleeding Leg, Baby Tortoise Leg Problems, Tortoise Cut On Leg, Tortoise Having Trouble Walking At Night, Turtle Bulging Out Of Shell, Red Spots On Turtle Belly, Algae Growing On Turtle Head, Adding Salt To A Turtle Tank, Wheat Germ Pellets For Turtles,