RT hit his head trying to escape. hurt himself

[wosman]

Hi gang

So my tortoise made a break for it by climbing out of his enclosure (i still cant figure out how). In either case I found him in another room having a good time, but his head had one of its...scutes (i know they're not called that in this case). It semi tore off and when looking underneath it seems to have gone deep. I am not sure what to do. I was going to use a Q-tip to very lightly disinfect the area with incredibly dilute isopropyl alcohol and then dry it with a cotton ball, but I figured I would ask you guys first.

Don't let the images fool you, it was hard to get a good angle since he would not sit still, it looked rather deep. the 3rd image somewhat shows it best

Any help is much appreciated as always.

Thanks

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if you zoom in on the 3rd image you can see it better

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Hi gang

So my tortoise made a break for it by climbing out of his enclosure (i still cant figure out how). In either case I found him in another room having a good time, but his head had one of its...scutes (i know they're not called that in this case). It semi tore off and when looking underneath it seems to have gone deep. I am not sure what to do. I was going to use a Q-tip to very lightly disinfect the area with incredibly dilute isopropyl alcohol and then dry it with a cotton ball, but I figured I would ask you guys first.

Don't let the images fool you, it was hard to get a good angle since he would not sit still, it looked rather deep. the 3rd image somewhat shows it best

Any help is much appreciated as always.

Thanks

---

if you zoom in on the 3rd image you can see it better

---

What you were about to do sounds good to me! Let's wait and see what the more experienced owners say though. Put some antibiotic ointment on it though.

 

[wosman]

What you were about to do sounds good to me! Let's wait and see what the more experienced owners say though. Put some antibiotic ointment on it though.

i do not have such an ointment. is there any particular brand that you would recommend?

 

[Laurie]

The scales on the head will normally shed. I think this may be shedding that is normal and you are assuming he hurt himself. I only say this because I had the same concern when my steppe tortoise had a scale start to lift up on his face as well. Don't pull it off, let it do its natural thing and you will find that there is a brand new scale underneath

On a side note, his beak looks a little long to me, are you feeding on a slate/rock to help naturally file it down?

Now that I look at your last pictures (sorry I hate attatchments ) , I think I see some blood. Maybe he scraped a little bit? I would just try to keep it clean

 

[wosman]

The scales on the head will normally shed. I think this may be shedding that is normal and you are assuming he hurt himself. I only say this because I had the same concern when my steppe tortoise had a scale start to lift up on his face as well. Don't pull it off, let it do its natural thing and you will find that there is a brand new scale underneath

On a side note, his beak looks a little long to me, are you feeding on a slate/rock to help naturally file it down?

Now that I look at your last pictures (sorry I hate attatchments ) , I think I see some blood. Maybe he scraped a little bit? I would just try to keep it clean

Thanks

As mentioned I don't have an antibiotic ointment, but would isopropanol work if i clean it every morning?

Would his enclosure be an issue as well since it is a mix of sand and coco coir and the sand could potentially get into the cut.


Thanks again everyone.

 

[emmalaub]

they normaly shed so i would not worry

 

[Edna]

As mentioned I don't have an antibiotic ointment, but would isopropanol work if i clean it every morning?

Isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) is very drying. Get some triple antibiotic ointment and use that. It comes in many brands and is cheap, it can be used for many things and goes a long way.

 

[Yvonne G]

No, that would sting pretty bad. If you don't have any first aid equipment, I suggest you get some. Its always a good idea to have a little tub or satchel full of stuff you might need in a first aid emergency. You can clean and disinfect that wound with diluted Betadyne. You can buy that at the pharmacy. After its dry, you can dab on a bit of antibiotic ointment such as NeoSporin.

 

[wosman]

No, that would sting pretty bad. If you don't have any first aid equipment, I suggest you get some. Its always a good idea to have a little tub or satchel full of stuff you might need in a first aid emergency. You can clean and disinfect that wound with diluted Betadyne. You can buy that at the pharmacy. After its dry, you can dab on a bit of antibiotic ointment such as NeoSporin.

ohhh man neosporin really!? i thought I had to use some special tortoise ointment. haha alright. thanks everyone!

 

[Laura]

and figure out how he got out and prevent it...they are such escape artisits!

 

[wosman]

and figure out how he got out and prevent it...they are such escape artisits!

Yea I figured out what happened. I made a corner in his enclosure with only coco coir for him to burrow and play in and it was walled by stone. one of those stones was next to his hide. He climbed onto the stone and used it as a foot hold to climb onto his hide, then he moved a piece of wood i use to provide him shade and climbed over the edge of the enclosure.

Thankfully he's a bit of a coward when it comes to heights so he avoided the stairs after he escaped and found himself to the other side of the house to climb on some throw pillows.

 

[lynnedit]

Clever little fellow! Sort of.

 

[Kolorbl1nd]

hey there. my tort did just about the same thing a couple months ago. i washed it and he is fine. it looks like theres a little scar but hes fine. when he fell his part of his shell actually hit his head and chipped off a piece on his head.