turtle belly

Question
Hello. I have a 3 year old (we think) RES.  About 2 weeks ago, it was shedding the plates on its belly.  They were starting to peel away, so my brother peeled them off to help the turtle.  Now, the turtle's underbelly is no longer the yellow/whitish with black splotches it used to be, but whitish/pinkish with black spots.  Since then it hasn't shed any plates (that we know of).  What's going on?

For the record- it's a female
it lives in a 30 long aquarium
water temp- 75 degrees farenheit
basking temp- 87 degrees farenheit
basking rock to absorb heat
uvb tube lighting
no previous health issues
diet of crickets and turtle pellets
201 whisper filter
water change weekly

please help!

sincerely,
Leah

Answer
Hi Leah, thank you for all the information it really helps knowing all that I can.

When a turtle or any reptile sheds it is very important NOT to pull off the shed. The shed comes off when it is ready. If the shed is pulled off it can damage the new skin/shell under neath. The shed wasn't ready to come completely off because the shell underneath wasnt healed or grown enough for it.

Your turtle should be fine but you need to keep the tank extremely clean. To prevent infection. The filter will help but you need to do a full cleaning and scrubbing in the tank quite more often then you usually do. Keep the water clean is very important. If the rock that you have for him/her to bask on isn't smooth take it out and use something else in the mean time. If she crawls up on it with the tender new scutes it can easily scratch or even puncture the bottom of her shell.


I hope that helps,
Good luck
Yexalen