Beak help please

JKR11

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Joined
Aug 30, 2020
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7
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Merced, Ca
My little Munchkin was given up by his original owner due to becoming paralyzed for reasons unknown to me, in both back legs but that doesn’t stop him or even slow him down! The issue I have is his beak grows abnormally fast, I take him to the vet to have it smoothed down but watching tears rolling down his eyes kills me even tho I know it’s not necessarily hurting him but scaring him. He eats on a large flat stone, has cuttlebone that he devours, loves everything from greens, fruits, veggies to carrots being his all time favorite, he so far does not like hay of any kind. He basks very well, loves his soaks and my little Mighty Mouse loves chasing albeit slowly after one of my Yorkies (yes they are supervised) and his whiffle ball. Is there anything else I can be doing or does he just have an overactive keratin gene? His nails don’t grow as fast and with him chugging along he keeps them nicely trimmed. He’s a little Angel that loves to be held and even falls asleep in my arms, that I believe was unfortunately mistreated before I adopted him. Any advice or ideas would be really appreciate!
 

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Maro2Bear

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You‘re right, the beak definitely has an overgrown “look” to it beyond just the “biting end”. I’ll defer to folks experienced with mis-shapen beaks.
 

zovick

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My little Munchkin was given up by his original owner due to becoming paralyzed for reasons unknown to me, in both back legs but that doesn’t stop him or even slow him down! The issue I have is his beak grows abnormally fast, I take him to the vet to have it smoothed down but watching tears rolling down his eyes kills me even tho I know it’s not necessarily hurting him but scaring him. He eats on a large flat stone, has cuttlebone that he devours, loves everything from greens, fruits, veggies to carrots being his all time favorite, he so far does not like hay of any kind. He basks very well, loves his soaks and my little Mighty Mouse loves chasing albeit slowly after one of my Yorkies (yes they are supervised) and his whiffle ball. Is there anything else I can be doing or does he just have an overactive keratin gene? His nails don’t grow as fast and with him chugging along he keeps them nicely trimmed. He’s a little Angel that loves to be held and even falls asleep in my arms, that I believe was unfortunately mistreated before I adopted him. Any advice or ideas would be really appreciate!
The tortoise's beak needs to be trimmed by a vet who knows how to do it properly. It will need to be done several times over a period of months (it may even take a year or so) in order to get it to the proper shape and relationship with the lower jaw because taking off too much at once will injure the underlying jaw bone.

I cannot see the lower beak, but that may also need trimming since the upper beak is not meeting it properly to wear it down naturally.
 

Mrs.Jennifer

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When I first got my rescued Russian tortoise, he had beak issues. My vet had to work on reshaping it over a period of time. When you say that you feed him on a flat stone, is his beak actually scraping along the stone? I had to chop up his food very small and spread it out in a terra cotta plant saucer so the beak scraped the saucer. I would refill the dish several times instead of piling the food, so to facilitate more contact with the saucer surface.
 

JKR11

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Joined
Aug 30, 2020
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Location (City and/or State)
Merced, Ca
I do chop all of his food, I was worried he wasn’t eating enough. He has an exceptional appetite.
 

JKR11

New Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2020
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Merced, Ca
The tortoise's beak needs to be trimmed by a vet who knows how to do it properly. It will need to be done several times over a period of months (it may even take a year or so) in order to get it to the proper shape and relationship with the lower jaw because taking off too much at once will injure the underlying jaw bone.

I cannot see the lower beak, but that may also need trimming since the upper beak is not meeting it properly to wear it down naturally.
That’s possibly what needs to happen, theres only one exotic vet here and I think it’s time to look elsewhere. Thank you!
 

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