Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About a week ago I noticed a small piece of skin near Bowser's mouth that looked like it was shedding off but I didn't think much of it. Today when I took him out of his tank to clean it I saw that a small portion of his beak was broken off on one side. I don't know when this happened (I know it was within the week) because I only take him out to clean his tank but I know that he ate yesterday. If this did just happen do you think he can/will still eat? Is there anything I can do to help. There is nothing in the stock tank he could have broke it on exept the gravel on the bottum, which I took out today because it was making it to hard to clean. I don't know if gravel could even do that. I just don't want it to get worse or him to get sick or anything. I'm panicing about this, i'm just so worried and going through some other pet difficulties. I'm having trouble getting the pics to load onto the photo gallery but i'll post them as soon as I get it to work. PLEASE respond if you have any ideas!!!!!

A couple more worries of mine are will having no gravel really stress him out and i wasn't sure if putting salt in the water would help prevent infection or if that would just make it worse. Again PLEASE help if you can!

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that's nothing! He'll be fine, just keep taking good care of it and you'll see it regrow within a year or two.

hmm..is there any flesh exposed? If not, the break should heal fine, just feed him soft foods until then. Just keep the water super clean, no need for salt or anything of the sort.
-Mike

the most important thing right now is to keep the turtle stress-free. they are very prone to stress following traumatic damage to the face and head. this rings true for ANY turtle. clean water is a definate must. the turtles beak will heal, slowly, with time. it will never be quite the same, but it wont keep the turtle from living a normal life, ive seen many wild snappers that are perfectly fine after such an injury. so stay calm, and just keep the water clean. you might want to stick to small pelleted food for a while to avoid risk of infection.

keep us posted!

the most important thing right now is to keep the turtle stress-free. they are very prone to stress following traumatic damage to the face and head. this rings true for ANY turtle. clean water is a definate must. the turtles beak will heal, slowly, with time. it will never be quite the same, but it wont keep the turtle from living a normal life, ive seen many wild snappers that are perfectly fine after such an injury. so stay calm, and just keep the water clean. you might want to stick to small pelleted food for a while to avoid risk of infection.

keep us posted!

Man hopes it ok and gets well, Ive bought a snapper that had a jaw very nuch like that and it healed u[p ok almost forming it all back but like greg said not quiet. Well salt not sdomehting I've ever done but Ive heard if it and it may help out but I don't know?

Thanks so much everyone for giving me your thoughts. I'm really glad you think he'll be alright. Today I am going to try to feed him 2 fuzzy mice, I figured they are small and soft enough that he would have no trouble. Do you guys think that it was the gravel that broke his mouth? I thought maybe he snapped at a fish or crayfish but grabbed a piece of gravel. He seems to be ok with just the bare bottum now, i do have a piece of driftwood and some floating and sinking live plants in there. I'll just have to see if he's calm enough to eat. Thanks again!

I think it's a lack of calcium. He was probably nibbling at the gravel trying to getting calcium. My little snapper often does that sometimes.

Thomas