Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2 year old Sulcata has been getting small cuts on his back legs, caused by his sharp shell edges. It seems when he rubs his legs on the back scutes he hurts himself. My boyfriend thinks I should use an emery board to gently saw down the edges, but I am uncomfortable doing that because I don't know whether that will cause more injury. I believe the shell is living tissue and that he would feel pain if I did that. Do you guys have any advice?

Yes you can use an emory board to gently file the shell down a tiny bit. It won't hurt the turtle, but having cuts on the legs could.

I had to do the same thing with a large eastern painted. Just file enough to make it smooth.

Best wishes!

PHKiwi

I had to file a sharp point on my Russian's shell.It was scraping the skin off the top of his head.It doesn't take long and is a much better remedy than trying to treat cuts.This was a year ago and she hasn't had the sharp point come back yet.

Teddy got these too for a while (at that age), just keep them clean, I wouldn't
file the shell unless there was a weird nick that was in danger
of chipping a large piece off somehow. Comes from lying around
basking, they will disappear. If you file them, I'll be they
may still return (cuts) because of the way their little fat legs
just press into the shell. You'd have to file a lot of shell
off and you don't want to do that. Reminds me of a baby getting
a bald spot on it's head from sleeping on the same spot. Last
week I went to pick up Teddy to turn him towards his pen and
when I turned him, his back shell sharp piece sliced my calf,
gotta watch them, they have sharp parts. Luckily it was just
a shallow cut, my fault. He'll outgrow the back of the legs
things, don't fret and don't file it.