Front of face looks raw?

Nimus

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I noticed over the past few weeks that my Sulcata seems to be getting raw around his mouth. I have never seen him rubbing up against the side of his enclosure but I do use terra cotta saucers as his food/water bowls and I am thinking that might be what's causing it. I provide him with a saucer of cuddlebone shavings and I think he might be rubbing his mouth raw against the terra cotta while he's eating the cuddlebone shavings. The rawness around his mouth seemed to coincide with his increased interest in the cuddlebone shavings (I do feed him a variety of foods and give him a couple pinches of calcium supplement a week). Other than the rawness he is acting normal and is actually eating more and has been growing faster over the past couple of weeks (he's grown almost 2 grams a day for the past couple of weeks which is more than normal for him!)



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Does it sound like this could be the case or does this look like something different?

20200201_071140.jpg
 
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Maro2Bear

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That “raw” area doesnt appear to be coming from terra cotta saucer. Have you tried to examine very closely, does it rub off under water n soft brush? Beak shouldn't be rubbed raw for any reason, even eating cuddlefish bone shouldnt do that.

Examine closer and see if it rubs off. Try and get a very close up pix.
 

KarenSoCal

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I can't help you with his face, but I wonder about the calcium. If you are putting calcium in his food, plus he's eating cuttlebone, he might be getting too much calcium. Too much is almost as bad as too little.

If he's eating it on his own, I would stop adding it to his food. He will stop eating cuttlebone when he doesn't need to anymore, and then just nibble occasionally.
 

Maro2Bear

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I can't help you with his face, but I wonder about the calcium. If you are putting calcium in his food, plus he's eating cuttlebone, he might be getting too much calcium. Too much is almost as bad as too little.

If he's eating it on his own, I would stop adding it to his food. He will stop eating cuttlebone when he doesn't need to anymore, and then just nibble occasionally.

Yes, good point. I was thinking the same but didn't add into my post. Too much is just as bad as not enough.
 

Nimus

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I can't help you with his face, but I wonder about the calcium. If you are putting calcium in his food, plus he's eating cuttlebone, he might be getting too much calcium. Too much is almost as bad as too little.

If he's eating it on his own, I would stop adding it to his food. He will stop eating cuttlebone when he doesn't need to anymore, and then just nibble occasionally.

I'll back off the calcium then. I thought I've read that they instinctually eat more calcium (cuddlebone) when they weren't getting enough so I thought he may have not been getting enough with the couple of pinches of calcium that i give him in his food a week.

Here is a close-up of his face:

20200205_111314.jpg20200205_111316.jpg

He's antsy when I take him out of his enclosure so I couldn't get great pics.
 
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Maro2Bear

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Personally, I’m not sure what’s causing that coloration on your sully’s beak. I really doubt it is from rubbing the terra cotta dish. But hey, you dont have to feed in/on the dish. Maybe remove that dish, cut back on the calcium, and see what happens. Continue to soak daily, provide proper nutrition, lighting, humidity.
 

Nimus

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Does he burrow down into his substrate? It could just be discoloration from digging. I've seen my DT use his face in the dirt.

Yes, he has a hide but he likes to burrow down to the bottom of his substrate when he's in his hide. When I look inside his hide I usually just see the top of his shell.
 

Maro2Bear

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Yes, he has a hide but he likes to burrow down to the bottom of his substrate when he's in his hide. When I look inside his hide I usually just see the top of his shell.

You might want to check your overall temperatures as well. Our sully never burrowed down into the substrate. I wonder why it’s doing that?
 

Nimus

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You might want to check your overall temperatures as well. Our sully never burrowed down into the substrate. I wonder why it’s doing that?

I checked the temps with my infrared temp gun and it showed 81*F at the cool end and up to 95*F on the hot end (at the height of the substrate). I have a thermostat to regulate the enclosure temp. I just thought Sulcatas liked to burrow?
 
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