Help! Dangling toe / nail.

[Alice Sulcatia]

Hello everyone, I hope you can help me out here because I have not come across anything like this in turtle care before. According to Dr. Google and ChatGPT, I should clip it or file it off. But I rather get real medical insights from people who actually have turtles.

My Sulcata rescue tortoise has had this cut/split hind leg toe for a while. I keep it clean and there is no infection or bleeding. My guess is that one of her siblings accidentally bit her when they all lived cooped up in a very small enclosure. Regardless, she is very active and is doing great with her rehab and shows no signs of stress. However, I am concerned about snagging or pulling off hazards. Any ideas or suggestions how to deal with this? Thanks

 

[Tom]

I would just leave it alone and let it wear naturally if it is not causing a problem.

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

I would just leave it alone and let it wear naturally if it is not causing a problem.

Thanks Tom, I was leaning towards that route as well. P.S High 5 I am retired dog trainer.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Tom, I was leaning towards that route as well. P.S High 5 I am retired dog trainer.

High 5 back. I am not retired yet... Actually at work right now.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

High 5 back. I am not retired yet... Actually at work right now.

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you, happy to be here at last as a member not just a guest digging through articles. Truth be told I switched to turtle training and behavior, so no golfing and scrapbooking retirement here.

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome and I hope the problem sorts itself out without a "hitch"!

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

Welcome and I hope the problem sorts itself out without a "hitch"!

Thank you! Fingers crossed no snitch, hitch or ditch comes our way.

 

[zovick]

Hello everyone, I hope you can help me out here because I have not come across anything like this in turtle care before. According to Dr. Google and ChatGPT, I should clip it or file it off. But I rather get real medical insights from people who actually have turtles.

My Sulcata rescue tortoise has had this cut/split hind leg toe for a while. I keep it clean and there is no infection or bleeding. My guess is that one of her siblings accidentally bit her when they all lived cooped up in a very small enclosure. Regardless, she is very active and is doing great with her rehab and shows no signs of stress. However, I am concerned about snagging or pulling off hazards. Any ideas or suggestions how to deal with this? Thanks

The nail has already broken into the quick and the quick has already healed. Therefore it would not hurt anything to simply cut the nail off right at the break. That is what I would do if it were my tortoise, but leaving it alone to fall off on its own won't hurt anything, either.

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

The nail has already broken into the quick and the quick has already healed. Therefore it would not hurt anything to simply cut the nail off right at the break. That is what I would do if it were my tortoise, but leaving it alone to fall off on its own won't hurt anything, either.

Thank you, I am juggling between leave it alone and cut it off.