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Turtles actually feel a lot from their shells. That scrubbing is most likely amazing to those turtles. They get the best scratches and a healthy clean shell. Purely a win win for them.

This suggests they could feel pain from their shells as well, then..?

Yep. The shell protects them, but damage to it hurts.

Just like it hurts when I drop a pan on my toenail

Different actually. The shell has nerves, your toenail doesnt. The soft bits attached to the toenail are a totally different story of course! A turtles shell is alive unlike your hair or nails. It has veins and nerves and everything. That's how it grows with them without causing issues like getting too thick or being too thin etc.

It's cause the shell is actually ribs

More like when you break a tooth in half.

Okay so women in thread who just imagined a tooth in their mouth breaking in half and cringed like I did. That’s why every man stops and stares when someone takes a hit to the balls. It is a similar pain level to having a tooth broken

I don't think this thread has to be a pain Olympics discussion?

Yes, their spine is connected to their shell, and the can absolutely feel if someone is touching/hurting them there, I don't know why people would think otherwise.

It’s a pretty common beliefs the turtle is just IN the shell. Not that it IS the shell.

But how did they get the shells without the turtles for Mario Kart? Dear god

Mario is a mass murderer, this is well known. He’s decimated entire eco systems.

Because it seems counterintuitive to use something as armour if it just passes the pain right through anyways

I think it’s a common misconception, but I don’t think it’s counterintuitive. Same reason we feel pain, it’s a warning sign.

My turtle hisses at me when I scrub his shell :c

My experience with most shelled friends is that they enjoy being rubbed a bit. I don't know that to be true of turtles I'm not friends with.

It is true for turtles. They do enjoy a good scratch. What I don’t know is if the algae is good for them or not? Seems like evolutionarily it would be gone if harmful but who’s to say it’s good.

I think normally fish eat the algae off? This is true for sea turtles. It’s possible since these turtles are in a man made environment that the pond doesn’t have the fish that would normally eat the algae or not enough of them

Surprised nobody has mentioned that turtle's shells outer layer is made up of scutes that entirely flake off from time to time revealing fresh scutes underneath. So they will naturally shed the algae off from time to time in sections as different scutes flake off.

Aww, that scute

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His life project of growing an island on top of its shell is gone. Banished in an instant.

What happens to the scutes after being shed? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one from my turtle but maybe they decompose fast or get a lot softer? I have a musk turtle if that changes anything

I'm not fully familiar with musk turtles ( I had eastern painted turtles) but I used to find shed scutes on the bottom of the tank and in the filter from time to time. Often found them trying to eat them. Maybe trying to reclaim the calcium. I also had sucata tortoises and the don't shed scutes at all I that I ever saw

> Seems like evolutionarily it would be gone if harmful but who’s to say it’s good. There's a whole lot of parasites for all kind of animals that surely agree with you there, but i'm not sure if they are to be trusted.

Algae can hide infection and can get under the partially shed shell scales if not taken care of, and can lead to shell rot. If there's too much algae on their backs, it hinders their ability to absorb sunlight/warmth when basking.

Got it, if I see a turtle with algae I'm finding the nearest toothbrush!

Thats... not...correct. It seems more likely that the algae is bad, and the turtles evolved symbiosis and behaviors relating to other species, such as birds or humans, who could remove the algae from their backs.

Me not knowing is not correct? Seems like it is.

No, wrongo. You are incorrect sir or madam.

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I… don’t know… you know?

I believe when you take a brush to their shell, it feels nice to them kind of like if you scratched a cat or dog behind the ears? At least that's my understanding, hitting that hard to reach spot

They have a chitin scale/scute, so they can't feel a "scratch" the same as a furry mammal, but they can still feel pressure/vibrations and it very well may feel good.

I imagine it feels similar to what you feel on your fingernails

That analogy feels apt to me

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Bruh did you copy someone else's comment in this same post..?

Karma farm bot. Copies an upvoted comment, and adds it to the highest upvoted top level comment. Over and over and over.

Careful. You may get labeled a "turtle rubber"

I'll take it. Could be far worse

It can be my native American name. If they'd have me

Turtles love a good shell scrub.

In things I learned today 😊

Dont we All?

For some reason I love watching people brush turtles. I remember one in particular where the person would just hold the brush and the turtles would lift up against it and shake itself back and forth and side to side like crazy.

https://v.redd.it/q35grhl7cju41

Absolutely needed to see that. My heart is happy 😌

This is the best thing ever, thank you internet person.

Thanks for sharing that!

If I could spend the rest of my life just giving turtles a lil brushy brush, I'd be happy doing it.

And it would not be a wasted life

I remember once reading somewhere online that humans from the point of view of animals is the same as the way we looked at the Fae. Some will help you, some will hurt you, and you can’t always tell which will do which. When you’re an animal in trouble, turning to a human for help is always a gamble.

I really like this. Seems like something old Tumblr would come up with

It was probably a Tumblr post.

*definitely E:https://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr/comments/ivurk8/humans_are_the_fae_of_this_world/

Yes! Thank you!

Thanks for that

The Fae? What is that and how does everyone else know?

Fae is just another way to say the species of fairies, friend. 😁

We are the fae.

Bom Bom is an Asian slang for shower

Which language?

not necessarily a language specific slang, more region specific! im from southeast asia (singapore/malaysia) and i hear this term a lot, its usually used by parents towards young children :)

Given how this article uses ‘Auntie’, I’m 90% confident this is Singapore.

It is, mothership(the site this article was posted) is a Singaporean website

Not to mention it happened in Botanical Gardens

Ik ( for the record I’m a native Singaporean)

🎶 Bom Bom Bom Bom.. I brush you with my broom..🎶

You realize how big Asia is right? It’s not a monolith

Wonderful. Something actually wholesome related to humans helping animals that I don't feel bad about after reading the comments (actually I feel even better)

Are we sure the algae isn't symbiotic in some way? Seems like it could be useful for camouflage, but might slow down swimming so idk.

If they have too much algae on the shell they cannot get as much UV or heat from the sun.

I trust an employee at the botanical gardens to decide the difference over a random guest. Maybe she should fix some drawing on the wall while she’s at it https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/09/20/161466361/woman-who-ruined-fresco-of-jesus-now-wants-to-be-paid

A little algae is probably fine but can lead to shell rot, and removing it with a soft bristled brush is the recommended method for dealing with it. https://www.allturtles.com/turtles-and-algae/

So the employee can handle it. Im actually kind of surprised with the downvotes I received for suggesting a lay person shouldn’t take matters into their own hands at a curated garden But it’s fine, pretend you know better than experts. I’ll keep trusting experts while you do you

This is some pretty hard core coping to being wrong about something as casual as turtle shell algae lmao. You don’t need to dig yourself in this deep over it

Im not coping or digging myself in. Visitors shouldn’t touch animals at exhibits. It’s a pretty normal take. Or I thought it was

This is the Singapore Botanic Gardens, all the animals are wild. Employees have no responsibility for them, because there aren’t animal “exhibits”, you can just find wild jungle fowl, water monitors and hornbills all over the park. These are wild animals, and the old lady is doing them a service by giving them a clean

If this was causing the animals any sort of distress I would agree with you, but those lil dudes are lining up for turns.

Sometimes downvotes are just because you are wrong. Not because you *did* anything wrong. You asked a responsible and logical question that was intended to protect the wildlife. Don’t feel bad about it and don’t listen to the other guy talking about coping.

So glad I'm not the only one who's been conditioned to respond to something earnestly good and well-intentioned with, "but why is actually terrible?"

The algae is actually an entire continent worth of civilization which gets wiped away as if the brush were an asteroid.

I'm guessing if a turtle lived it's life with a clean shell and was killing it they probably would like a clean shell again. It also probably makes them feel old. Like when they get a clean shell they feel young again and get the zoomies

Scritch scratch time

[here is a link to the video](https://youtu.be/IiKC8xCC8fg)

*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://youtu.be/IiKC8xCC8fg Title: **Turtles Swim To Elderly Lady To Have Shells Cleaned** Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL and name of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!

Good bot

I thought I was on r/singapore but no for once Singapore is featured

Love terrapins

avatar checks out

Tutel

Turtles and tortoises absorb UV light through their shells so I can see where that is the motivation to clean them off (for anyone confused). However, I assume that a natural habitat that they evolved in likely has a small level of plant or parasite growth on their shells.

r/humansbeingbros

✨SPARKLES✨

Lai means come in Mandarin.

SINGAPOREAN PRIDE

According to some people any type of interaction with their shells hurts them

a light scrub doesnt hurt them, i used to have a turtle who looks forward to me using a toothbrush to clean their shell

Oh I agree. Just some people over react. That’s what I was trying to say.

being that the turtles are congregating, it seems these specific shelled turtles rather enjoy her scrubbing. Perhaps she's very gentle or just knows how to get that one spot for them.

Are they congregating because she is scrubbing them or because they are doing their normal sunning thing and she approached them?

I dunno. I have zero experience with turtles but I did see another video on Reddit that showed turtles scrubbing themselves by going back and forth through a bristled thingie majigie

Yes its true i didn't knew that :( Actually, The shell is very sensitive to the touch, but pain depends on how hard you hit it. As the shell is made of solid bone and is a part of its spine, as others have said, a slap to a turtle's back with the open palm would probably feel like slapping a football helmet

As in if you’re the person wearing the helmet??? Who gives a damn what the slapper feels

I'm gonna assume that's what they meant yes

And to my knowledge, turtles sometimes eat those algae if food are hard to come by.

Tons of turtle owners clean and scratch their turtles . If someone knew to help scrub the turtles then they know how to not hurt them . Plus they're like lining up for the cleaning lol they like it

If theres damage to their shell they can definitely feel the pain, but not all interaction is detrimental. My own tortoise as well as others ive cared enjoy shell sctatches. Mine even loves being sprayed with the hose.

Most turtles/tortoises I've seen online absolutely love shell scrubs with a brush, sometimes you'll even see little brush rigs built for them to come scratch their shells themselves

That little tail wag in the end. :D

Absolutely terrifying that we're just one wholesome act of an Elder God away from being wiped out like that.

Should I be scrubbing the shells of all the turtles at my local park???

U can but just dont injure them Like some ppl said in the comments tutels do feel when their shell gets touched

No you absolutely shouldn't. This is why posts like this are a bad idea... they make people like you think you should go and do things like this. Wild turtles should be **left alone**. If they're injured or ill, call a wildlife rescue.

Wait what does algea do to the turtles?

Nothing much if its only a little but a lot can block out the uv exposure which they need and might even cause rot on their shells

I just know my turtles try to bite me when I scrub them:(

Turt

Nice pfp

save turtles please omg

I would pay to do this

I heard the damn “[Wowww](https://youtu.be/8URukvnUYTw)” anime sound in the last frame XD

*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://youtu.be/8URukvnUYTw Title: **Anime wow - sound effect (free to use)** Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL and name of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!

Dog

Maaaan I’ve been growing that garden for 6 damn years and these humans went and stripped it all off.

ANOTHER TURTLE MADE IT TO THE WATER!

did y'all know that turtle shells have nerves and they can feel stuff there

whats a terrapin?

Remember to thoroughly clean your ingredients before cooking

Always gotta clean your meat before you cook it

Ahegao turtle

then eat them

U know we cant eat wild animals in Singapore right?

This is why you guys don't get laid.

Man this is reddit ain't nobody getting laid

Clean turtle fren

Cute shiny turtle!

Ironic.

I think i saw her there before. And botanic gardens is fucking filled with litter sometimes.

Turtles love scratches.

Welp. Now I will keep a little brush in my bag when I'm going on outfit adventures just in case.

Why do I want to start crying? 🥹

How do wild turtles remove algae? Do they even need to? Is it actually bad for them or just an appearance thing?

And the best part is not only are the turtles clean, they can also feel the brush. So they get a little back rub

It’s so cute!

This is so cool I want to do this to my turtle