TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

Gareth C. — Fri, 12 May 2017 16:42:10 GMT

the best thing is a rabbit dental burr (the big one) on a dental machine. these also cannot damage soft tissue. dremels vibrate a lot and not much fun for the tortoise but work OK.

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

Gareth C. — Fri, 12 May 2017 16:41:58 GMT

the best thing is a rabbit dental burr (the big one) on a dental machine. these also cannot damage soft tissue. dremels vibrate a lot and not much fun for the tortoise but work OK.

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

Niall Taylor — Wed, 10 May 2017 18:15:02 GMT

[quote user="pablo sordo pedro"]That's great thanks very much for the info![/quote]

Good luck, and welcome to the forum

Niall

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

pablo sordo pedro — Wed, 10 May 2017 14:07:27 GMT

That's great thanks very much for the info!

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

Richard Carter — Wed, 10 May 2017 10:17:54 GMT

top or bottom beak? I have a short serrated pair of stitch cutting scissors that allows you to follow the contours and I remove only the loose flaking areas to avoid blood vessels to start, then follow up with file if necessary

RE: TRIM BEAK TORTOISE

Judith Archbold — Wed, 10 May 2017 10:11:36 GMT

Hi.

Very common problem in tortoises. I try to encourage the owner to get some cuttlefish to see if their tortoise will chew on it a bit to grind the beak down....but if it's anything like my own tortoises it won't go near it!

i use a drummer drill with a soft sand-paper like bit on the end to burr down the upper beaK, leaving a slight overbite. I usually do this on a conscious animal as it doesn't hurt them BUT don't go too mad with the drill as there is a blood vesssel in the beak....can be quite long in some cases.

you can use nail clippers ( the pointy metal type) to snip the beak BUT there is a risk of splitting it a bit so I prefer the drill technique.

if the beak has a severe malocclusion then I would sedate the tortoise to drill the upper / lower beak as required to try to get it back into shape.....but this is usually a multi stage process so if in doubt refer it to an exotics vet.

check the owner is giving calcium / vitamin D supplements such as Nutrobal, to ensure the malocclusion isn't due to poor metabolic growth.

most pet tortoises will be fine with just a bit of a beak trim as required so they can eat ok.

hope this helps.