Hi everyone,
Something seems to have grown inside our sulcata's mouth.
Unlike googled images of a tortoises mouth open, pink, with their tongue sticking out, our sulcata seems to have a shelf on the bottom part of his mouth inside. I first noticed something weird maybe 1.5y ago but it only seemed as if the front row of his "teeth" had slightly moved inward one row. At this time when he'd eat you could clearly see him using his tongue & bunch of slobber etc. I figured it would fall away, like new/old teeth or his skin/growing ( I know they don't have teeth). Since I work, I didn't catch that more recently his eating had changed - not that he is not eating. He's not showing any sickness symptoms. But he started leaving lettuce and carrot leftovers as if he shred them into little bits with his mouth instead of eating everything. Then I witnessed when he scarfs food down he takes a second to swallow, it may even come back into his mouth then he swallows it. You can no longer see him using his tongue freely. The growth seems to now cover a good part of the bottom of his mouth inside. I know food gets stuck right there on top of the shelf and I fear it makes food stuck at the top of his mouth inhibiting breathing and that the shelf may be inhibiting use of his tongue and maybe he's "swallowing" it, it being now behind this shelf closer to his throat.
I'm in the process of forcing him to open his mouth so I can get a clean picture. When I see it though, through yawns, it looks just like a hard shelf over the bottom front of his mouth. Anyone seen this happen to their tort? Googling thinks its mouth rot but as I said, he's functioning fine otherwise and his poops normal as ever. I want to just prop his mouth open to "brush his teeth" to see if it'll pop off.
~20y old, lives outside, grazes everywhere but is a Very picky eater - he doesn't eat what's bad for him (& sometimes what's good for him), he gets sprayed with water when he likes/soaked not as often as I'd like but my sister is really good at forcing him to soak! Other food would be romaine, carrots, those tortoise pellets but this is more a treat and a sneaky way to get water in him because he loves romaine. No injuries.
Something seems to have grown inside our sulcata's mouth.
Unlike googled images of a tortoises mouth open, pink, with their tongue sticking out, our sulcata seems to have a shelf on the bottom part of his mouth inside. I first noticed something weird maybe 1.5y ago but it only seemed as if the front row of his "teeth" had slightly moved inward one row. At this time when he'd eat you could clearly see him using his tongue & bunch of slobber etc. I figured it would fall away, like new/old teeth or his skin/growing ( I know they don't have teeth). Since I work, I didn't catch that more recently his eating had changed - not that he is not eating. He's not showing any sickness symptoms. But he started leaving lettuce and carrot leftovers as if he shred them into little bits with his mouth instead of eating everything. Then I witnessed when he scarfs food down he takes a second to swallow, it may even come back into his mouth then he swallows it. You can no longer see him using his tongue freely. The growth seems to now cover a good part of the bottom of his mouth inside. I know food gets stuck right there on top of the shelf and I fear it makes food stuck at the top of his mouth inhibiting breathing and that the shelf may be inhibiting use of his tongue and maybe he's "swallowing" it, it being now behind this shelf closer to his throat.
I'm in the process of forcing him to open his mouth so I can get a clean picture. When I see it though, through yawns, it looks just like a hard shelf over the bottom front of his mouth. Anyone seen this happen to their tort? Googling thinks its mouth rot but as I said, he's functioning fine otherwise and his poops normal as ever. I want to just prop his mouth open to "brush his teeth" to see if it'll pop off.
~20y old, lives outside, grazes everywhere but is a Very picky eater - he doesn't eat what's bad for him (& sometimes what's good for him), he gets sprayed with water when he likes/soaked not as often as I'd like but my sister is really good at forcing him to soak! Other food would be romaine, carrots, those tortoise pellets but this is more a treat and a sneaky way to get water in him because he loves romaine. No injuries.