Is skin shedding normal

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7oasty23

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I've had my Russian for about a week, and he has started to have some peeling skin on the bottom of his neck, should I be worried?


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GeoTerraTestudo

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7oasty23 said:
I've had my Russian for about a week, and he has started to have some peeling skin on the bottom of his neck, should I be worried?


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There are two kinds of shedding: the good kind and the bad kind.

Bad shedding is kind of thin and translucent, and looks a bit like larger flakes of dandruff. This can come about from dryness or stress. Vitamin injections can also lead to really bad shedding, but thankfully that's rare, and besides, you'd know if that's what it was.

Fortunately, most shedding is good; it means your tortoise is growing! Reptile skin is not as elastic as mammal skin, so it has to be shed from time to time as the animal gets bigger. Snakes shed it all at once, but lizards and turtle shed it in pieces, which some may even eat. This kind of skin is a bit thicker and more normal in color.

Odds are that what you're seeing is the latter, which means you're doing something right. :)
 

7oasty23

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Thanks for the answer, it's thick and not very translucent at all, so I guess I won't worry about it. He's my first reptile, so I'm learning a lot.


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