Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

This morning my new Active UVB starting buzzing. Is this
normal?

Secondly, Ichabod's toe nails seem long. They are kinda
curling under at the tips. Is it OK to trim them?

Thanks in advance
Linda

I have 1 that buzzes since day 1-it is an external ballast. None of the others I ever had made that noise-but the bulb is really good with little or no deterioration or decay in over 9 months of use! It doesn't/didn't seem to bother either uro that has used it-I don't think they can even hear it.
It's OK to trim the nails but be careful- if they freak out you can hurt them-once a "new" mali female of mine jerked her foot just as I "grabbed" the nail with the clipper and the whole nail popped out-no cut, I had just clinched it ready to clip and the nail popped right off leaving only the quick. No blood and it grew back, but a huge pain-no sand for a month or so and bacitracin I believe it was with some liquid bandaid.Even gave her baytril upon recommendation from Doug Dix.She was not amused.
After the first clip put some slate and/or a big natural rock to climb and that will wear them down so you won't have to do it again.Just clip the curl.It will wear the rest down on it's own.

Thank you so much for your quick reply! I thought maybe
something was wrong with it.

Ichabod is pretty laid back so hopefully it won't be
difficult to trim them up. I do have some slat in there
now so hopefully this will help.

Linda

If you do decide to trim the nails because they are going to cause pain or difficulty in walking, just trim the very tips. I notice in high light that Gnuby has a 'quick' (however it's spelled) like cats or dogs do. Cutting too far will cause them to bleed, so maybe take a strong flashlight behind them to see where that ends and make sure to cut after it. If they haven't started curling under all the way I would wait and see what the slightly textured rocks do, they may keep the nails 'in-check' enough. That would be a lot of stress and possible injury, and probably should be avoided if possible.

My Gizmo has several natural rocks in his enclosure, and he climbs up these rocks to his basking area. This really helps keep his nails fairly dull. If you give your Uro some type of rock or slate to climb around on, it might help to keep the nails shorter naturally. But... someone on another forum had problems with their uro wearing the skin off of their feet and toes on either sandstone or limestone, can't remember which, and it caused a lot of open, bleeding sores. If you stay away from those two things, and get some other type of natural rock or slate, it might really help.

Andi

yup,
that was me, and it was the sandstone. it did a great job wearing down her nails but took her feet too!! not so great. i kept the sandstone structure, and just covered it with a vinyl tablecloth. that was she still had the wall to climb. then i put just one rough stone on her warm side that was little enough she didn't have to climb on it, but she could rub on it for shedding and when she sits on top it keeps her nails under control. it is working really well.

Hey GNUBY-I can't find the definition of spelled quick- can I get a brief explanation? The lizard's quick is obviously different but what does spelled MEAN? Thank you I am curious to a fault.

I don't even understand what you're asking... I meant that I did not know how to spell the word 'quick' when it refers to the blood vessel that grows into an animals nail (I know felines and canines have them, and it looked like Gnuby might have them too). And spelled is the past tense of spell... like the letters in a word.

I thought you you meant, "...yes,they have a quick,however, the quick is a spelled quick..." when you meant"...however the word may be spelled". You spelled it right I think. Misunderstanding.
Thought I was learning a new term.

dogs, cats, critters, birds, reptiles.... They have them.

What it is is a vein in the nail. If you cut this vein it will bleed. If you cut too much it may not clot and stop bleeding. It is painful when you hit the quick

If you have an animal with clear nails you can easily see the quick. It is a dark line on the top portion of the nail.

trimming nails regularly not only keeps the nails managable but allows the quick to remain short. The longer the nail, the longer the quick.

Dremeling carefully can help with shortening the quick. The dremel can be used to trim to the end of the quick, when it makes contact, it will cauterize it. But you can still cause bleeding by taking it too far.

The Uro linda has was basically a pet of a 10 year old kid who just stopped caring. It would occasionally get some romaine or ice burg lettuce and crix for food. No supplemental heat or lighting. So needless to say these people didnt care about nail care.

Sorry for the long answer.
-----
Cindy
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Huh?? Say wha???

>>Hi all,
>>
>>This morning my new Active UVB starting buzzing. Is this
>>normal?
>>
>>Secondly, Ichabod's toe nails seem long. They are kinda
>>curling under at the tips. Is it OK to trim them?
>>
>>Thanks in advance
>>Linda

Take it slow. I was trimming a smidge every other week and then dremeling alternating weeks. His original owners never trimmed them and kept him on glass rather than something he could get traction on. They were massive curley q's so take it slow a smidge each time. The quick is pretty close to the end, which is why I dremeled.
-----
Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

Thanks Cindy, I will trim only a little at a time.
He is doing better everyday. I call him the "marcher"
as after he warms up he marches around. It's kinda funny.
He will march right out the door when I have it open.

He has quite the appetite and I am introducing new things
everyday.

Linda

>>Thanks Cindy, I will trim only a little at a time.
>>He is doing better everyday. I call him the "marcher"
>>as after he warms up he marches around. It's kinda funny.
>>He will march right out the door when I have it open.
>>
>>He has quite the appetite and I am introducing new things
>>everyday.
>>
>>Linda

Glad to hear it, and I am so glad you were the one who adopted him. I know I will get updates. I just need to log into this forum.

Go slow and steady on nails. Honestly when he came in they were HORRENDOUS!
-----
Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!