My Russian has gone papery around the neck and the tops of the legs. Thin flakes lifting off, and more of it after I soak her. The skin underneath looks fine and she is eating and barging about as usual.
I expected tortoises to shed in one go like a snake, which they obviously do not. Is flaking just what it looks like, and is the extra flaking after a soak a sign I am doing something right or wrong?
Normal, and the soak is doing you a favour rather than a disservice. Tortoises shed in small bits and flakes rather than in one piece, which makes a perfectly healthy one look ragged round the neck and legs. Growing animals do it more often.
The extra flaking after a soak is just the water loosening what was already on its way off. Healthy skin underneath plus an animal that is eating and active is the whole reassurance.
Should I be helping the loose bits off while they are soft, or leaving them?
Leave them. Pulling at a flake that is still attached takes skin with it and you cannot tell by looking which ones are ready. They come off on their own and the soaking is all the help needed.
Check the basking lamp height while you are looking. Too close burns skin and shell and it looks like bad flaking at first.
What would bring her in: discoloured patches, raw or red skin, thick crusty areas, a bad smell, open sores, or tiny moving specks and a lot of rubbing, which is mites.
And on the shell, thin clear scute layers peeling can be normal in some tortoises, but soft spots, pitting, discharge, a bad smell or deep flaking down to raw areas is not. That list is shell rot territory and it needs seeing rather than soaking.
@do_not_pull_flakes · 2w ago
The version that is not normal is skin that is very dry and cracked, or constantly flaky rather than in cycles, which usually means hydration or a dry enclosure. Regular shallow lukewarm soaks, fresh water down every day, and a burrowing area that holds some moisture even if the rest is dry.
Since you are already soaking her and she looks well underneath, you are most of the way there.
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