Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Two of my baby desert tortoises have overbites. They will not eat carrots or other hard foods, and that is probably the cause of the malformed beak. I want to take them to the vet and have it fixed--one of the beaks is more severly overgrown than the other. Is there a procedure the vet can perform to correct this, and should my vet perform this as part of the fee to see him, or should there be some sort of other additional surgery-type cost?

If it is simply an overgrown beak, a good herp vet will be able to trim the excess off without a major procedure. If your tortoise has an overbite due to deformation of the jaw, it may be much more difficult to correct. Pricing for either will vary from vet to vet.

Assuming your tortoises just have overgrown beaks.

Things that contribute to overgrown beaks:
1. Feeding soft or finely chopped foods
2. Poor tortoise diet
3. Having a species more prone to this problem

A couple recommendations to help after you go to the vet:
1. Provide your tortoises with chunks of cuttlefish bone, (found in the bird section of any pet store, or at www.cuttleboneplus.com). Some tortoises will ignore them for months and than suddenly gnaw them to bits. In addition to keeping the beak short they provide calcium. I buy the largest ones I can, break off the hard back layer with pliers, and break them into pieces small enough for the tortoises to bit on, (2 inches by 2 inches).
2. Provide french fry size food. Sticks of grass, vegetation or vegetables allow the tortoises to exercise their choppers. Soft or diced foods doesn't.
3. Condition your tortoises to eat more natural / fiber rich vegetation. Overgrown beaks are encouraged by feeding mainly supermarket produce. There are plenty of sites on the web to learn about good tortoise plants for your species. Many tortoise keepers grow their own tortoise food in their backyards in a pesticide free environment. The links below are several steps better than supermarket produce. Finding plants that are specific to Desert tortoises will be even better.
Hope some of this is useful,
Happy turtling,
John

California Turtle & Tortoise Club: http://www.tortoise.org
Tortoise Trust: http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/care.html
World Chelonian Trust Care: http://www.chelonia.org/care.htm
Tortoise Food: http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/nutrientanalysis.htm
Wild plants for Tortoises: http://www.tortoises.net/
Tlady's Tortoise Guide: http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/index.htm
Cactus as Tortoise Food: http://www.russiantortoise.org/cactus.htm
Turtle Cafe -
Edible Landscaping: http://www.turtlecafe.com/edl_edible_landscaping.pl
Grazing Mixes: http://www.turtlecafe.com/products.pl?CatID=9
Edible Flower Seeds: http://www.turtlecafe.com/products.pl?CatID=20
TurtleStuff.com -
Weeds/Wildflowers Seeds: http://www.turtlestuff.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=92440&cat=23&PHPSESSID=b3e7f279874865ee743ebb27e85d9378
Forage/Enclosure Grasses: http://www.turtlestuff.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cat=25&cart=92440
Tlady's Tortoise Seed Mix - http://www.tlady.clara.net/herbiseed.htm
Walkabout Farm's Quantum Series (No Seeds, just dry plants) - http://www.speakeasy.org/~dervish/herpnutrition/grasslandtortoises.htm

The cuttlebone that's been sitting in their cage for ages collecting dust has been ignored by them completely.

I let them graze dichondra and bermuda grasses, along with whatever safe weeds are in the backyard. I offer cactus, but that is fairly ignored. I also try offering grated carrot, which is also ignored. I am a Master's student of desert tortoise physiology and ecology at UCLA, I work in the Mojave desert studying baby tortoises...I'm not a loser tortoise owner

For one tortoise, I think it is merely a case of getting him to eat harder food, which I have been unsuccessful so far. However, the other tortoise is more disfigured. The jaw seems more crooked than overgrown.

Sorry - didn't mean to offend, just covering the basics first. I errored on the side of overkill.

I've had good success with cuttlefish bone with most of my tortoises but I also have individuals that never catch on.
Beak trims become a necessity in those cases.

Sounds like you provide a good diet but have picky eaters.

One thing to try with the cactus you mentioned is mounting a plastic spring loaded clamp (from the hardware store) on a board that firmly holds a whole cactus pad horizontally, a few inches off the ground. This keeps it clean, and puts it just above eye level for the tortoise making them have to work to bite and ripe off pieces. They seem to like this more natural positioning better than eating off a plate.

I don't keep desert tortoises but I've worked with overgrown beaks on Hermans and Box turtles. Some people trim beaks themselves but there is a chance of them splitting upward so a vet visit is a good idea. As you know, the crooked jaw is more serious and needs a vet's attention.

Good luck,

John