Volksvegan
New Member
I posted in late December about trying to get my RT's beak trimmed at the vet and how he (the tortoise, not the vet) did NOT want to cooperate. Here's a link to the thread (I hope!): http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-84706.html
I had decided it was best to wait until Spring as he could still eat fine, and he has rough terracotta dishes and slate to eat off of so it shouldn't get any worse. In the meantime, however, I have been gently filing it every day for a week now for very, very short periods of time and then rewarding him with a dandelion flower (I've been able to find a few bedraggled ones in between snowstorms; they are TOUGH plants). I use a rough emery board (rougher than the usual thin brown ones) on the back of which I've glued smooth thin cardboard so as not to hurt his tongue or anything else inadvertently. I know it's going to be very slow going, but even if I only get a bit of it within a month we should be better off than not doing it. He comes running (probably being territorial rather than expectant, LOL!), but the positive reinforcement of the dandelion seems to work. At any rate, it feels a bit more proactive than just waiting. I'll take pics along the way to see if we're doing any good at all.
I had decided it was best to wait until Spring as he could still eat fine, and he has rough terracotta dishes and slate to eat off of so it shouldn't get any worse. In the meantime, however, I have been gently filing it every day for a week now for very, very short periods of time and then rewarding him with a dandelion flower (I've been able to find a few bedraggled ones in between snowstorms; they are TOUGH plants). I use a rough emery board (rougher than the usual thin brown ones) on the back of which I've glued smooth thin cardboard so as not to hurt his tongue or anything else inadvertently. I know it's going to be very slow going, but even if I only get a bit of it within a month we should be better off than not doing it. He comes running (probably being territorial rather than expectant, LOL!), but the positive reinforcement of the dandelion seems to work. At any rate, it feels a bit more proactive than just waiting. I'll take pics along the way to see if we're doing any good at all.
