Turtle shells exhibit a variety of shell colors and patterns, this variety of shell coloring and patterns is one of the things that make these animals so interesting, but a sudden color change to gold may make you wonder what’s wrong with the animal
This article looks into why your turtle’s shell is turning gold.
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Why is my turtle’s shell turning gold?
Golden hues appearing on your turtle’s shell may seem unusual but something unusual doesn’t always. indicate a problem.
Here are reasons why your turtle’s shell may be turning this color:
Shedding:
One of the reasons why gold spots may be appearing on your pet’s shell may be because the animal is about to start shedding its scutes.
The turtle’s shell is made up of scale-like pieces on the shell called scutes these scutes peel off from time to time and this is called shedding.
Before the scutes completely fall off air pockets sometimes form between the old scutes and the new scutes and water can enter these air pockets.
You’ll see gold on your pet’s shell when light refracts through the amber-colored scutes.
What to do:
This is perfectly normal and isn’t something to worry about, it is completely normal.
As long as your pet isn’t showing signs of illness or disease while this is happening then your pet should be fine. The scutes should shed as normal and your pet’s shell color will go back to normal too.
What you should avoid doing is peeling the scutes off yourself as a way of helping the turtle get the scutes off. Doing this can cause bleeding and damage to the animal’s tissue, allowing the scutes to fall off on their own is the way to go
If you want to help the reptile out then you can use a soft toothbrush on the scutes and gently rub them, this should encourage them to fall off.
What you should also do is scoop the scutes out of the enclosure, once the animal sheds, before they get caught in the filter and foul it up
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 Pink?, Why Is The Bottom Of My Turtle’s Shell Pink?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Silver?, Why Is My Turtle’s Skin Turning Pink?
