Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a sulcata that is about 4-5 years old. He is healthy, active, and eats like a lawnmower, but his beak is starting to look bad. He is beginning to develop an underbite and it is starting to look quite bad. I live in an area where we don't have any veterinarians close by who deal with exotic pets, so I'm wondering what to do about his beak. I have given him a cuttle bone on a few occasions because I have read that tortoises will chew on them for calcium and it seemed like it could work as a "file" for his beak, but he just ignores them. Any suggestions would be tremendous. Thanks in advance!!

Taylor

Hi. Sometimes you can snip the excess beak material off with nail clippers if you can get the tortoise to hold still enough. From what you say, the tortoise chewing on cuttlefish is never going to correct the problem you have now. The cuttlefish would be considered more as a preventive measure than as a curative treatment. When the beaks are already fairly overgrown, they need major cutting and trimming to correct, not just wearing down by some occasional normal biting activity on cuttlefish (even if he would use it). Unfortunately, the trimming can best be done if the tortoise is immobilized by drugs or anesthetized, so a vet is still going to be your best choice from the sound of your description. You would need to go to one who knows how to medicate reptiles and has good knowledge of beak trimming.

I bought a female sulcata on KS a while back and when it showed up it had a severe underbite like its bottom jaw was set way back in the skull or shrunken. I assumed it was diet\vitamin related as her shell was uncommenly soft for being 15 lbs. She was from up north where i dont think she got alot of sunlight. I stuck her outside and by the end of the summer her shell hardened up but the underbite never went away. She eats fine and breeds regulary. I was never very happy about the deal.