First of all, if you've had your turtle two years, then you're doing something right (especially if you started with a baby.) Next, view this photo and ask yourself if your turtles sculpted shell resembles this one at all. Spotted turtles in nature (as is the one freshly caught in this photo) build up laminae as they grow, they don't always shed off as the under lying ones appear. Some shed scutes more frequently than others. I have found full grown adults with a carapace (and sometimes plastron) so heavy with laminae, that they look like Wood turtles in shell structure.

In the event that the turtle has some pyramiding due to a calcium deficet, it can be corrected relatively easy by keeping your turtle outdoors in natural sunlight ~ even for a couple of hours a day, when the season dictates that.

I will also post a picture in a different post, of a freshly caught hatchling which shows some flaking of carapace laminae.

What is the diet that you've been feeding the turtle? Thanks, Leo

Skin & Scales

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