Reptile & Amphibian Forums

got the males- I hadnt planned on it after all the warning etc but when I saw them I had to- Now I know how pple say you should never "SAVE" a animal due to vet bills etc but these torts needed it omg!!! they are ok as far as I can tell I am making a vet appt as I type this but they do have problems I am hopig you all can help with until I can get to the vet.the nails on these guys are sooo long can i clip them or do they have a quick like a dog or cat would,can I file them if I cant clip them and how would I clip them with dog cilpper or just regular nail clippers? and thier beaks (is that the right name?)are over grown pretty bad not over thier chins but more than normal what do I do for that? the vet is overbooked till next week and I 'd like to do what I can now. their eyes noses and vents are clear no bubbles etc and they are walking around the enclosure. I soaked them as soon as I got them (I know I should have waited but they were filthy) these torts were not from the petstore she had just got them in last week and was feeding them friut another bad I know so any info would be great please no negative comments I am beating my head on the wall for doing this as it is...but I felt I had to help them....

If you are going to the vet sometime in the next month or so, the torts can survive a little longer with overgrown beaks and nails. That doesn't mean you should put off the visit, it just means they are OK if that's the only problem they have. If the tort is wheezing, oozing, having diarrhea, etc, then you need to hurry.

Yes there is a quick to the nail, and there is a point at which you must stop trimming when doing the beak (obviously). Mine have never had nail length problems, and it could be you are just surprised by the length they naturally have. Look at some photos on the russiantortoise.net website for comparison.

Let your vet do the trimming. The beaks are best done with a dremel tool or some other gizmo that lets you do it slow and smooth. After that make sure the torts eat their food off of a piece of slate or some other hard surface. Their digging behaviors should keep the nails in trim.

It sounds to me like your petstore is doing you no favors. They didn't come up with the animal you wanted and then they give you lower quality substitutes.

Yeah I will not be dealing with her again!!! I did notice the pics of nails on other sites and some of those torts nails were even longer than my torts are so I guess I am still in sulcata mode :0) I am going to try and wear down thier beaks naturally with the slate so they dont have to go through the drummel thing they are not as bad as I though now that I have looked up pics on other sites ,I will still keep my vet visit just to make sure they are healthy.I so hope they are I'd hate to try and deal with the vet bills from a sick tort again been there done that -not fun but I'll do it if need be~ thanks for the help again.... Erica