Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a juvenile female, less than 3 or 4 years old, and in her tank she doesn't get a lot of opportunity to rub up against rocks or swim very fast on a regular basis.

Every once in a while a small piece of scute will come off in her tank from her just swimming around, but not that often.

What mostly happens, though, is her scutes just keep growing in, and the top layer looks really dirty and worn, sometimes with air bubbles visible under them or patches where scutes have broken, exposing a newer layer underneath.

Is it healthy for her to take her out once in a while and, using my fingernails, peel off the old scutes for her? I did this once and the scute came off really easily, but I wanted to check on here to see if I was doing something really dangerous so I'll know never to do it again.

Sorry about the long read.

Sometimes I clean my turtles shell with a soft bristle tooth brush...I usually do this when they get dirty looking. Sounds like your turtle is loosing a lot at one time though-mine have never shed that much...maybe you need a nutrition check or a different tank set up?