Is Karl deformed?

Emmyx1x

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Hi there after posting earlier regarding clipping my beloved torts beak a member has advised me that both his head and beak are deformed.
Utterly heartbroken.
Karl has been like this since his rescue, after extensive research we clipped his beak as described in another post, he looks a lot better for it and is munchety cruncheting away really well, pat on shell for my good little eater.
Any advice would be great. What has caused this? It has made me paranoid now there are other issues i.e his shell.
I know his last owners if you can call them that were a disgrace, poor karl lived in filth, and after his first bathe with us it became apparent he hadn't been bathed for a long time and his diet had been shocking! His claws were curled right around too. Poor baby. My heart has just been to get him to the best health possible and never let him experience poor conditions again.
He has a stone and cuttlefish on his table. Just want to give him the utter best care I can.
 

Emmyx1x

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Here is a before pic with the girls and an after resting his head x
 

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Emmyx1x

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For anyone reading the awful viv has gone my torts are now on a table.
 

mikeh

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Good job on trimming the beak. I'd wait little while before doing additional trim.
Curled toes, overgrown/deformed beak are signs of some level of MBD(metabolic bone disease). Lots of sunshine, or a good UVB bulb, calcium and mineral supplementing along with long fiber rich diet (broadleaf weeds). That with lots of room for roaming will mend him to a happy healthy tortoise
I don't think his head is deformed, the beak is. With additional trimming it will look more natural in time.
 

Emmyx1x

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God bless you, I have just purchase a really good UVB bulb so happy days on that one.
I have foraged so that I provide hopefully what he would choose xxx
Thank you for your help xxxxx
 

Emmyx1x

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Oh I also meant to add that you may see karl is quite the escapologist! He has a large run but has learnt to dig his way out and hide in the bushes! We are in the process of constructing a raised area outside so he can spend lots of time catching natural uv and get more exercise than he currently does.
I have no concerns with my girls as they really are happy and healthy but not having karl from the best if beginnings is much more of a challenge.
 

Emmyx1x

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Here is my little beauty enjoying a chill out with me before bed.
 

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naturalman91

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you could also put down a cement slab and feed on that and it'll help file the beak down as he eat's
 

Prairie Mom

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you could also put down a cement slab and feed on that and it'll help file the beak down as he eat's
Hi Naturalman, I've noticed my new tort constantly bites the edges of my patio. I thought she was hoping it was food. Is this their method of self-filing? Do they do this naturally, the same way rodents are always biting in order to file their teeth?
 

naturalman91

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Hi Naturalman, I've noticed my new tort constantly bites the edges of my patio. I thought she was hoping it was food. Is this their method of self-filing? Do they do this naturally, the same way rodents are always biting in order to file their teeth?

what color is the patio? to my knowledge torts won't just start filing down on they're own they have to be tricked into it by scrapping while they eat
 

johnsonnboswell

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Sorry, Karl has pyramiding of his shell and his head is deformed. It's not the typical shape of a well started tortoise. One of my rescues came to me with that shaped head, too. All we can do is keep it from getting worse. He can still live a long healthy life with it.

Do not feed fruit. They enjoy it, but they don't have the gut flora to digest it. Make sure the substrate is not completely dry.
 

Prairie Mom

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what color is the patio? to my knowledge torts won't just start filing down on they're own they have to be tricked into it by scrapping while they eat
Thanks for your response :) It's just plain gray concrete slab. The sulcata is a new-found rescue who is in tortoise heaven when ever she is in my backyard. I enjoy gardening and my entire back yard is made of edible flowers, vegetables, strawberries, grapevines, and of course plain fescue grass. She is so happy walking around snacking on the millions of edible things maybe she's just testing to see if every surface is edible :), but I have noticed her try to chomp on the edges of the concrete for a few seconds at timeDSCN6228.JPG and was hoping there was a cool explanation for it. Thanks for the response naturalman and thanks Emmy for allowing me to post a question on your thread.
 

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