# MISSING CLAWS :(



## pencilsss (Oct 4, 2012)

Hey everyone

Pencils my pet tortoise is about 2 years old. Hes a hermans tortoise and seems to be losing claws. He often likes to stand on two feet and act like a human. He has four claws on his front right foot and three on all the others .
He scratches on the walls of his indoor enclosure as he tries to climb. 
Ive tried feeding him different things but im worried theyre not going to grow back. He doesnt seem to be in any pain though.

What can i do and does it make any difference to him?

Claire and Pencils


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## Redstrike (Oct 4, 2012)

How large is your enclosure? I know steppe tortoises like lots of room to bash and bruise around in - thus the incessant, nail destroying climbing...?


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## safari_lass1 (Oct 4, 2012)

May I ask what kind of substrate it is on and how moist is it? Do the feet look puffy, white at the foot and red around the nail bed? Or does it just look like the nail broke off? I ask because I received a pancake tortoise that was kept on extremely moist substrate and got an infection in his nailbeds which resulted in infected feet and loss of nails.

Either way I would show the little one to your vet and ask him what preventative measures you can take to lessen the chance of infection. Squirt, the pancake tortoise, has to be on paper towels and soaked daily in blue solution until all his nails grow throug the skin at least 2 mm.


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## pencilsss (Oct 5, 2012)

He is on hemp/ small wood pieces. I think it might be because he scratches when hes climbing. He seems pretty happy. His feet dont look infected or puffy :s.


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