We as turtle raisers want our animals to be in the best health at all times, but this, unfortunately, can’t always happen, you may notice that your turtle’s neck is peeling and this may make you think that there is something wrong with the animal.
This article is a look into why your turtle’s neck is peeling
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Why is my turtle’s neck peeling?
If your pet turtle’s neck starts to look odd then this may prompt you to take a closer look at the animal’s neck to figure out what’s going on, and you may be shocked that the animal’s neck is peeling.
Here is why this may be happening with your pet turtle:
Skin shedding:
One of the reasons why your turtle neck may be peeling is normal skin shedding
Normal skin shedding happens to all animals, even humans, although this is usually very difficult to see.
The shedding on your turtle’s neck should hardly be visible. The peeling would look like fine hairs hanging off of the animal’s body, and this shedding skin will only be visible while your pet is in the water.
What to do:
If this is the type of shedding that you’re seeing on your pet turtle’s skin then you don’t have to worry, this shedding is perfectly normal.
Just keep an eye on the animal so it doesn’t start to shed large parts of its skin at a time.
Poor husbandly:
If the shedding skin is too visible then your pet may have husbandly issues. In this case, larger parts of the skin on your pts neck will start to slog off like a snake’s skin.
The husbandly issues that can cause excessive shedding on your pet’s neck include overheating in the enclosure, overfeeding (which can result in the rapid growth of the body, if the animal grows too quickly then it would need to shed its old skin quickly to accommodate its new size), water that is not filtered properly or at all, and inadequate (low) humidity.
What to do:
The solution to this would be dependent on what is wrong with the animal
If your pet is shedding because it is overheating then you’d need to lower the ambient temperature in the enclosure, lower the water temperature, and lower the basking temperature to what would be comfortable for the animal.
If you’re overfeeding the animal then switch to only feeding the animal as much food as would fit into its empty head, or only as much food as the animal can consume in 5 minutes.
If the shedding is caused by poor water quality then you may need to take a look at your filter and replace it with an appropriate filter that is a good size for your pet’s tank, a filter that cycles properly.
If the humidity levels are the issue then you’d need to maintain adequate humidity levels in your pet’s tank
The shedding will stop when the above are remedied. This skin issue will unfortunately take a while to stop. In the meantime don’t pull off the shedding skin, this could cause tearing and that will be painful for the animal.
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: Why Is My Turtle Orange?, Why Is My Turtle Extending Its Neck?, Why Is My Turtle Sticking His Neck Out?, Why Is My Turtle Lazy?, Why Is My Turtle Leaning To One Side?, Why Is My Turtle Scratching His Neck?, Why Is My Turtle’s Neck Red?, Why Is My Turtle On Its Back?, Why Is My Turtle Neck Swollen?