Face/Mouth Sore?

hiccup

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Dec 3, 2019
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Hello, new to this forum and looking for a little advice.

I've noticed my 8 year old (approximatley) Hermann's has developed some sort of sore, or 'bump' around his mouth/face. I noticed this semi recently and assumed he had scratched himself as he can be quite rough with himself while eating (for this reason I try to make sure his food is in small peices), but it doesn't seem to be healing, and appears like it may be getting worse. I am trying to keep the area as clean as possible as he keeps getting substrate near it - is there anything tortoise safe that would be suitable to use for cleaning / disinfecting so close to his mouth?

I have taken him to the vet for a general check-up and she seemed unconcerned about the sore and said he appeared to be in amazing health. He has been eating as normal and I have not noticed anything else concerning, he has been less active as of late however but I assume that is because of the winter months, and I am making sure to provide him adequate heating, food and temperature to combat this, he is not being hibernated this year.

Does anybody have any idea what this could be? Is there anything (avaliable in the UK) that I should be treating it with? Is he in need of another vet visit? Is it something to be concered about (I am very concerened)?

I am also aware his beak is becoming overgrown, I have tried intorducing various things to try to reduce this but to no avail, any suggestions on how to deal with this also would be appreciated. The vet also seemed unconcered about the length.

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Yvonne G

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Are you talking about the area on the side of the head where the beak opens? I don't know what happened to YOUR tortoise, but I can tell you from my own personal experience with rescued tortoises - Sometimes they try climbing up something, then accidentally slide down, catching the upper beak on the surface they're sliding down. This causes the mouth to open further than it was meant to and tears the flesh at the corners of the mouth. This is a hard place to heal because the tortoise continually re-injures it as he opens his mouth to eat.

For the time being, you can help it heal by taking these steps:

clean the area real good by scrubbing lightly with a soft bristle brush
Pat the area dry with a paper towel
Apply Neosporin or other first aid, healing ointment
Cut the food up into tiny pieces so all he has to do is 'tongue' it into his mouth rather than bite off pieces
Clean the area daily, being careful to not scrub too hard on the new growth, and re-apply the ointment

Inspect the enclosure to see where he might have been trying to climb and fix it so he can't climb there anymore.

(Because his beak is SLIGHTLY overgrown, the hook on the end may have made it easier to accidentally get stuck during his downward slide.)
 

hiccup

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Dec 3, 2019
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Thank you Yvonne. It seems likely to have been caused by something like that, I just became worried that it might have been something else due to it not healing.

It doesn't seem like I can get Neosporin in my area, do you think Vetark's Tamodine wound cleaner and a wound ointment like the one in the image below would work? I wouldn't want to use anything not safe for him and finding it hard to find a UK equivelent.

Thanks again.
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Yvonne G

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Yes, that would be fine.
 

Blackdog1714

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Maybe Brulidine Cream 25g and a local chemist store. Its seems very similar to the US Neosporin
 

TammyJ

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Silvadene (silver sulfadiazine) is a good reptile antibiotic cream but it's by prescription.
All the best with his recovery.
 
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