Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this seems like a silly little problem, but my box turtle has long toe nails that keep growing and growing and then they sometimes fall off or grow twisted. I brought him to my vet and the vet didnt provide much advice or help with the turtle. I need to find a vet that specializes in reptiles. In the mean time, should I be clipping his nails or is it natural for the turtle to take care of them himself? Do other turtle owners clip the turtles nails weekly? He wont let me have his foot, so it'll take multiple people to do this. At the vets office, one vet tech had to hold him, the vet held onto the foot to clip and a third tech had to hold a pencil because the tutle was trying to bite so we kept him occupied by biting the pencil instead of the vet. So I cringe at the thought of trying to do this myself. HELP!

Usually box turtles wear down their own nails in the course of their wanderings over rough surfaces, digging, and foraging for food, etc.
Do you house yours outside or in? It may be that your turtle just doesn't have an appropriate substrate, or possibly room for enough varied activities, to do the job naturally.
If you are keeping it indoors, you may want to consider outdoor housing for it, for at least part of the year. Mine are kept outdoors year round, and toenail clipping just isn't an issue.

I house my Turtle indoors full time. I live in the city and there really is no where for me to house the tutle outside.
I use those big "chips" that you can buy in the Petco for turtles as his bedding. Thats not going to help with the nails. I think I had better start taking him to a vet that knows how to care for reptiles.

I have to clip my turtles nails every once and a while. When i first got her her nails were very over grown, i took her to the vet and they did it the first time. I'm still in the process for clipping them so I can get them looking relatively normal(they were very long and twisted when i got her). I house mine inside and outside suring the summer but she still needs them clipped.

My turtle is a bit more cooperative then your seems to be. I still have to catch her foot when she sticks it out and it helps if someone is holding the turtle for you. Just make sure you don't cut too much off at once as they are like dogs in that they have a "quick" runnign through their nail and can bleed if cut.

If you are uncomfortable doing it yourself i would suggest finding a vet that knows what they are doing. I get my friend to help me that works in a vet clinic, so its a bit easier.

I never clip the nails of my turtles but i have seen it done by other people. Most say its usually easier to use a dremmel tool than to try to clip them with a scissor or wire cutter ot even a bird/dog nail clipper just be careful not to go to far (like with birds)
Usually, though, as was said above, if there is some rough stuff around in the pen (rocks, cement) in a small area, then the nails wear down. One guy feeds his boxies on cement once a week and they use their nails there alot.

arav

THANKS for your help!
I was really starting to worry about what to do.