Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

I was wondering, other than length changes and body structure changes, do crocodilians kinda "shed" during growth? As most of you know, I have two alligators. One doesn't appear to be shedding at all. However, the other seems to have skin shedding off in random pieces around his body from time to time. I have examined him and they are not cuts and everything else otherwise appears to be perfectly normal.

Any ideas or comments?

Chris
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Chris Law
U.A.P.P.E.A.L. (Uniting a Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League)
Herpetoculture Element Representative

The shed skin looks more like dander than the more typical shed skin of other reptiles. You can often see it floating on the water.

Bill

Bill,

Thanks for the photo. HHmm, can't say his necessarily looks like that. I have certainly never really seen anything quite to that extent in their water. Unless the filter is taking care of most of it, but I would suspect that I would still see some signs of shedding.

I will have to take some pictures of what I am seeing and then post those so you can see what I am talking about.

Thanks again Bill!

Chris
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Chris Law
U.A.P.P.E.A.L. (Uniting a Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League)
Herpetoculture Element Representative

When I pet spot those scales come off. I sometimes give him a bath and rub off these scales.