Do you think this is mouth rot? [with pictures]

[Ryongsyong]

Hi,

About a month ago we noticed that our tortoise had parts on both sides of his beak that went inwards slightly, like a small piece had worn away, and so we've been keeping an eye on it. Yesterday, it looked like it had become worse, not better, and more on one side had gone, and so after doing research, I think that it could possibly be mouth rot. I've taken some pictures for you to see. He's certainly a perky thing so they're not the best, but it was under very strong lighting to try to show the issue, and also I've cropped it to just his head, so the image quality for the important part is as high as possible. The images are of the left side of his beak, which is the worst side:

This is how he looked three months ago, during happier times:

It seems like an obvious question, but would you say a trip to the vets is in order? Inside his mouth is still pink, and he's eating away merrily, but still, this shouldn't be happening, should it?

In the meantime, anything we can do to help? For instance, changing the substrate in case something bad's in the soil, increasing heat, putting anything on it, etc.? Thank you if you can help!

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't think so. But I'm not really seeing what you're seeing. (I don't think) It looks like the beak is slightly overgrown. This is mouth rot:

 

[Ryongsyong]

Thanks for your reply. I might be misinterpreting what it involves, but I thought that a part of what I thought was the condition "mouth/shell rot" involves something like bacteria getting into the structure of whatever part it is (either the shell or the scales of, in this case, the beak) and consuming it, for lack of a better word, over time. I thought that the yellow stuff in the mouth was a secondary part of the condition as it develops later as the bacteria spreads from the outer beak area to the mouth (and then after that from there into the rest of the body), but perhaps I'm not understanding. But, as you can see from the before and after photos, what was once a straight top part of his beak now has a piece missing on both sides, and it seems to be getting somewhat worse because there's more missing now than there was last week, for example. If that's a normal "look" for a tortoise though of course I'll be happy, but I want to make sure .

As for the beak, we actually had to ask our vet ourselves to trim it when we took him for a check-up in April, and he said he'd do it but he didn't really need it, so not sure what that says about the vet if you think it's getting a bit long now!

 

[Yvonne G]

That little chunk of beak might have broken off because the beak is a little long. Similar to you breaking off a fingernail. Does it smell?

 

[Ryongsyong]

I hadn't thought of the fact that the beak is growing from every side. I always think of it in terms of just the front part, but I can see that of course the sides are growing and so can become too long as well, although I don't remember the vet trimming that (and actually not sure how you could do it unless you clamped open its mouth like in that picture you did). As for that part, no, it smells fine, and there are no behavioral signs from the tortoise; as far as he's concerned everything seems okay for now, and just now he was chewing away happily on a big chunk of cuttlebone that made me wince just to look, considering I thought that the side of his mouth must be quite fragile at the moment, but he didn't seem to worry too much. If there aren't any signs at the moment then that's good, but obviously I'd rather sort out any impending problems before they actually become problems though, so as not to cause any discomfort to him. I didn't know if this was going to be the start of anything serious and didn't want to wait for lots of damage to occur to his beak before I tried to find out what was happening.

One thing I would say is that when he's eating he will, like all tortoises I assume, use his front legs and the claws to push food that's hanging out of the sides of his mouth into it, and it seems to be done in a very careless way, which we always worry about, in case he pokes himself in his eye or something, so maybe it's just the cumulative effect of many years of poking the sides of his mouth with his sharp claws. I don't know really.

What about his general look, like the first picture? Do you think his head looks a bit flaky, such as behind his eye, as well as the area where the damage has been done, on the sides of the beak too?

Thank you again .

 

[Yvonne G]

He looks like a perfectly normal tortoise to me. They always have a pretty rough-looking appearance. It's part of their charm.

 

[Ryongsyong]

He looks like a perfectly normal tortoise to me. They always have a pretty rough-looking appearance. It's part of their charm.

There's no doubt that he's a charming thing, and we think very highly of him, hence why we're so mollycoddling no doubt and always looking for things that might be indicative of trouble . I'll keep an eye on it for now then, but presumably you think it shouldn't become much more chipped than it is at the moment and it's more of a case of it regressing back to the mean due it being a bit overlong right now?

 

[WillTort2]

Does a chipped or cracked beak indicate a vitamin or mineral deficiency?

 

[ascott]

I agree....overgrown beak....and an overgrown beak can and does continue to chip further away....until the overgrown beak is no longer overgrown...the hazard arrises when the beak is overgrown and a piece chips/tears off and rips into good live flesh--then you may get an infection going....

I would allow this tort places to work that beak down, like feeding on a rough piece of slate tile, placing some flatter round large river rocks to allow the tort the chance to rub/grind his own beak on as he finds he needs it....

I also would not chop the food up, offer whole/larger pieces to allow friction while chewing it down....work for it

 

[Ryongsyong]

Thanks for the advice! I'm glad that no one thinks it's anything more serious. He has been enjoying nibbling the edges of rocks lately so perhaps this is the result of his deliberate work. Probably didn't help that I usually thought he wanted some cuttlebone (which we do leave out anyway) and would start waving it around in front of him. I'll stop distracting him in future and we'll do our best to help him too by making sure his food is nice and chunky .