Shininess is usually a good thing, this is true for hair, skin, and nails, but this isn’t true for turtles and this change in appearance may worry you as a turtle owner.
This article looks into why your turtle’s shell may be shiny.
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Why is my turtle’s shell shiny?
A shiny shell is likely intriguing to you as a turtle raiser, not only this, you may start asking yourself questions about the pet’s wellbeing if this is the case. These animal’s shells are usually matte or slightly textured
So here is why your turtle’s shell may suddenly be shiny:
Shedding:
Turtles replace and renew the scutes on their shells often in their lives, this is known as shedding.
The scutes come off but they can start to look odd when they are about to shed off, your pet’s scutes may look shiny because there is water or air trapped under the keratin layer of the scutes then the shell may look shiny
The shininess may appear as a shimmering spot when the animal is underwater and may not be visible when dry. These spots may look cloudy when dry.
Different turtles look different when they shed, some shells go darker, some shells go white, some glimmer some stay clear, it depends on the turtle.
What to do:
This shininess as a result of trapped water under the scutes is quite normal and is something that you need not worry about.
The shell will go back to looking matte or roughly textured once the old scutes have shed off and the new scutes are visible.
Don’t try to remove the scutes yourself if you see them shedding, the scutes will come off when they are ready too.
If you remove them when they are not ready to come off then you can cause damage to the shell and cause bleeding
What you can do is give the animal a good back scratch using a toothbrush to help the scutes come off, don’t do this roughly and use a soft toothbrush to do this.
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’s Shell Turning Blue?, Why Does My Turtle’s Shell Look Cracked?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Breaking?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Green?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Squishy?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Dented?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Getting Darker, Why Is My Turtles Shell Caving In?, Why Is My Baby Turtle Not Growing?