Scute shedding. What's normal?

Here is normal shedding of a cooter:




If there are scutes underneath, and the scutes come off as whole pieces or at least large ones, your turtle is shedding and growing. This is a sign of health, not sickness. DO NOT pull the scutes off. As the new scute becomes fully formed, the old scute is released. If you pull the scute off before the new scute is fully formed, your turtle may have exposed bone, and this is difficult and complex to treat, and leaves the turtle subject to disease and death. If the scutes are not falling off, your turtle is not getting enough UV lighting. Add more UV lighting, do not remove scutes that are not falling off on their own.

If on the other hand your turtles scutes are flaking off, there could be a problem. This is rferred to as retained scutes. If a turtle fails to shed scutes that are somewhat loose, the turtle is not getting enough UV lighting. Also see http://www.redrobe.com/sharon/chelonian-vetp1.html