Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever trimmed the "beak" of their tortoise before? The two new ones that I got seem to have rather long beaks... I'm wondering if I could do it or if I would need to go to a vet to do it.

Fener

P.S still working on picts... can't find my digital camera.. we just moved into a new house and things are let's say a little unorganized!

I don't have any experiance in this area but it has been suggested to me to go the vet & have him/her show you how its done.

I tried once but I was too squeemish so I took him to the vet.
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how did the vet do it? I have cut dogs nails, with clippers and dremmel and I have cut their toe nails, an igunana's toenails and taken care of numerous small animal nails... does it compair? I know it's a beak but it's still nail substance.

Thanks for the great picts that really helps.

Take a look at:
http://www.cybyrcom.net/pogospals/Beak_Trim.html
I tried it, but it really stressed my tort out, so I take them to the vet now if it is needed. She's much faster and it is far less stressful for her to do it.

The assistant held the tortoise & Dr. Atlas used a Drimmel tool. I was sitting across the room & didn't have the clearest view, but Ollie didn't seem at all stressed. I could do it myself if I wasn't such a wus. I tired when he was coming out of hibernation & wasn't that active using an emory board, but he squirmed too much & I thought I was hurting him & stopped.

The vet said if I'd waited much longer to have it trimmed it would have been a much bigger deal. Blood vessels tend to grow into the new growth & the beak has to be cauterized after trimming to stop bleeding.

It's definitely a 2 person job!
I'm glad all went well.
Have you tried adding a cuttle bone in the enclosure for them to use?

Has anyone had the problem of the beak splitting up the middle?

My vet uses a dremmel tool to trim a beak, it is a two person job. It's much less stressful for the vet to do it.
Along with using a cuttle bone, using a flat paver brick as a food plate helps keep it trimmed down too.

I've never had one of mine split it's beak down the middle but my guess is if that happened the same acrylic used to repair bird beaks could also repair a turtle or tortoise beak.
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PHRatz

... at least for the first time so that you can see "in person" how it's done!

my little redfoot had a tiny (between 1/16 and 1/8 inch) crack in his beak once, so we had the vet trim his beak down a tiny bit to get rid or it befor eit got bigger -- for a 5 inch redfoot, it was a three person job! my boyfriend held him up and kept his arms back, the vet held his head out and used the dremmel tool, and i kept a small plastic wedge in his mouth to keep it open.

the cutest part was how, when it was all over, my tort marched right over to the dremmel tool and bit it.

i'd be terrified of trying it myself, but i imagine that many people can and do consider this a do-it-yourself deal.

ive done my bells hingeback several times by myself. ive used toenail clippers to take off large bits than a file to smooth it down. ive also used a dremmel with a sanding weel it wasnt hard at all. guess it depends on how nice your tortoise is

...i'd be far too afraid of hurting him! he's very gentle and tolerant of handling and being fussed over, and i snip the pointed little tips of his nails occastionally with nail clippers... but that's about as daring as i get...