Underbite starting? And who eats rocks?!

[NolaBillie]

Hi All, my young rf , Ember - 15 months old, seems to be developing an underbite? I've noticed the last couple days her upper beak is catching or getting folded under her lower beak. This has never been a problem before. I got her at 1 month old, and her growth has always been fantastic, no problems. She's active and alert. I have a vet here but I'm wondering if this is something that just is a weird thing that'll even out in a week or so? I feed her on a stone (see the picture). I'm just worrying this might start effecting her appetite?

Also, probably unrelated, but I've noticed sometimes when she's out in the garden having "outside time" she goes for tiny pebbles! I took a few out of her mouth, but nearly every time I put her out she seems to be searching for something like that. THere's a cuttlefish bone in the indoor enclosure that she completely ignores.

All advice helpful! Thanks for checking out Ember

 

[Pearly]

Let's give @Yvonne G shout, she maybe able to help with the beak. Your little tortie is beautiful! look at what I fed mine yesterday: mix of cactus pad, envive lettuce, raddicchio, collard green, little raddish green and root, and persimon, all chopped up and tossed, and then some soaked tortoise pellets, little bite of wet blue buffalo cat food, topped with fresh salad edible flowers and endive leaves for grazing they loooooove this stuff!!!! Especially that their menu changes every day to some degree. posting this to give you an idea of what i feed mine. They also go outside but i have never seen them pick up rocks. They used to try to bite the landscape bricks before i knew about having cuttle fish bone in there at all times and also before i knew about the need for diversifying their diet.

 

[NolaBillie]

Wow, that's a lotta food all together! Thanks for the images, Pearly (and Yvonne G. I never feed more than 4 or so foods at a time (and mostly it's green leaf varieties) - that let's me keep a schedule of like 3 days/week greens+fruit, 2 days veg+greens, one day just greens. Do you always just do salads mix? And when I try proteins, she doesn't seem keen on them. Mushrooms, hardboiled eggs (with shell or without), blanched chicken. I tried shrimp once too, she wouldn't go near it.

Also, it's cut so fine in the top pic - I left the pepper chunks huuggee today to see what Ember would do given the beak situation, but does everyone chop as much as the top pic?

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Chopping up the food that much is generally not recommended - but good for getting picky eaters to eat variety. For beak health and development, leaving things as whole as possible is preferable.

The underbite doesn't look like the typical overgrown beak that we see. Sometimes underbites are thought to be congenital, due to an injury, or caused by calcium deficiency. Looking at yours, genetics or injury would be my guess.

 

[NolaBillie]

Thanks for the input, Sarah Here's two shots of her like 30 min. ago... beak out again. It seems to be going in and out, and when it's in underbite mode, she just looks uncomfortable.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I wonder if the jaw may be partially dislocated. @Yvonne G, what do you think?