Photographs and Text by Boysenberry45
Everyone knows that birds and snakes molt, but did you know that turtles do, too? Birds and dogs molt to change outfits for mating season or to switch to a lighter or heavier coat as the weather changes. Turtles molt to increase their housing accommodations, just like moving from a studio to a one-bedroom apartment.
Central Park has a variety of turtles, but the most common one is the Red-Eared Slider. Unlike lobsters which stop molting as they age, turtles continue to molt throughout their lives. As the turtle ages, it sheds its scutes, the individual scales on the turtle’s back, so newer, slightly larger ones can take their place. Sadly, a visit from the Tooth Fairy is not part of this process. Female Red-Eared Sliders grow larger than males and molt more frequently. The process isn’t pretty, but it is essential, and the end result is.
Two of the best spots in Central Park to find these critters are the aptly-named Turtle Pond and around the banks of the Harlem Meer, although turtles can be found in any body of water in the park. Molting takes a rest during the winter, when turtles brumate, burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the water body to hibernate.
Perhaps you’d like to give thanks today that you’re not a turtle?
FYI: I was going to send this article to my grandchildren at camp, but thought I’d first look up the phenomenon online. To a site, they all say shell curling indicates a problem:
Pyramiding is the excessive upward growth of the scutes on a turtle’s shell. As a result, each scute becomes pyramid-like in shape, or “bumpy.” This condition is more common in tortoises than aquatic turtles, but it is still a possibility for red-eared slider.
Symptoms
• Bumpy shell
Cause
• Overfeeding
• Excess protein in the diet
• Excess fat in the diet
• Not enough calcium
• Not enough UVB
• Not enough exercise
• Genetic defect
Research has proven that calcium/phosphorus imbalance does not cause pyramiding in red-eared sliders.
Treatment
Pyramiding can’t be reversed, sadly, but you can prevent further damage. Read the ReptiFiles Red Eared Slider Care Guide, evaluate your husbandry, and correct any deficiencies.
(see: https://reptifiles.com/red-eared-slider-care/red-eared-slider-diseases-health/red-eared-slider-pyramiding/)
Although turtles, such as the Red Eared Slider (RES) can develop a lumpy shell with improper care, that pertains mostly to tortoises that have not received proper uvb, diet and environment. It’s quite normal to see turtles such as the RES shed their shells.
My take on your citation is that molting is one thing that happens, and the condition you cite is another, affecting scutes that have not yet shed.
Whether or not the tooth fairy is involved remains up for discussion, according to the results of my reading.
A bird report all about turtles!!!! Love it!!!!😻😻😻