# mouth rot in red foot?



## Diane Berner (Jan 7, 2016)

I have a year old red foot tortoise that I've had since he was three moths old. I recently noticed that his mouth was very slightly open. There was also some brown dry matter on his upper "lip". Any ideas as to what this might be? I weigh him weekly and he was gaining about 5-10 grams a week. Now in the past 10 days only one gram of weight gained. He is still eating but mainly only his favorite foods, although other foods are offered.


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## Yvonne G (Jan 7, 2016)

It might just be old, dried on food. Mouth rot looks like this:


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## yillt (Jan 7, 2016)

To be honest? It sounds like you have a fussy tortoise  and ate just a very concerned mum. Don't worry to much. He looks fine to me
Maybe have a quick look inside his mouth. I do this by holding the edges of their mouth and gently pulling down the bottom jaw. Be very very gentle and if he seems in pain then leave him


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## Diane Berner (Jan 8, 2016)

I found out why he is holding his mouth open. He has a tiny point on his lower beak that is stopping him from closing his mouth. I only noticed this when I put him under some strong lighting. Can this be filed off?


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## TerrapinStation (Jan 8, 2016)

It can be very carefully filed or trimmed off..... I would try other methods before doing anything that could potentially hurt the animal.

-What kind of surface do you feed on? A lot of people on here prefer a rough stone type surface for feeding, as it helps file the beak down as they eat. I use a terra cotta saucer and you can hear the beak scrape when he gets to the bottom of his food pile.
-Offer cuttlebone or "tortoise block" and see if your tort like it..... This can help keep beak trimmed
http://www.petsmart.com/gsi/webstor...nZpkl2-52tP_rSb3ItBPyF52w7hZs2NklEaAhez8P8HAQ

-Try leaving more foods whole-chunks of squash, pumpkin, melon etc with a harder rind that they have to bite through. This will help condition beak as well.

Best of luck!!!!


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## TerrapinStation (Jan 8, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> It might just be old, dried on food. Mouth rot looks like this:



Ohh man that is terrible. What causes that? poor thing.


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## Diane Berner (Jan 8, 2016)

I think the point may be too long to be worn down just by changing his eating surface. He has no interest in cuttle bones. My vet said she could dremel it down but she would sedate him to do this. He is only 185 grams and about the size of my hand. He's still eating but will not try to eat any of the harder rind foods like squash. He used to love his yellow squash.


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## Aunt Caffy (Jan 13, 2016)

Diane Berner said:


> I think the point may be too long to be worn down just by changing his eating surface. He has no interest in cuttle bones. My vet said she could dremel it down but she would sedate him to do this. He is only 185 grams and about the size of my hand. He's still eating but will not try to eat any of the harder rind foods like squash. He used to love his yellow squash.


It's best if you can avoid sedation, especially on such a little guy. Try the rough eating surface first. I, too, have a fussy tort. Regarding slower growth, that could be a matter of dropping temperature. Last year, I was utterly baffled why my Rowan's weight gain slowed down. After much searching on this forum, I figured out that things weren't warm enough for him to digest properly at all times. So I added a couple more heat lamps during the winter. Also, have you tried cooking the squash to make it softer? Or freezing it then thawing it...that process softens many things.


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