Opinions on how he walks

swatata · May 15, 2026

Hello!

Recently I have noticed our little guy (he is around 3,5-4 years old) is walking a bit differently by bending his back legs and his shell not being high enough. Need some opinions from others as I might be imagining things. I am attaching a video of how he is walking from today. When holding him or letting him sit around me I can feel his back legs are pretty strong. But sometimes I feel like his back part of the shell is being dragged or it is not high enough from the ground. I have an indoor set-up with regular temps as I live in his natural climate. Using an Arcadia T5 Pro Lumenize kit with a 12% desert UVB, just changed the tube recently. He has cuttlebone in the enclosure and sometimes nibbles from it but I haven't powdered his food as I read that if he has the cuttlebone available he can choose when he needs it and eat it. I really hope this isnt symptoms of MBD or something as I read things like that so thats why I need other opinions.

Short video of him walking from today -

TammyJ · May 15, 2026

I can't see the video.

swatata · May 15, 2026

TammyJ said:
I can't see the video.

Oh, I did not make it public, should be fine now

If it still doesnt show, just click on the video itself to take you to youtube!

zovick · May 15, 2026

swatata said:
Oh, I did not make it public, should be fine now If it still doesnt show, just click on the video itself to take you to youtube!

Sometimes not using the back legs to their fullest extent is a sign of the tortoise being frightened or feeling unsafe. It is also a sign of metabolic bone disease (MBD). I don't think your tortoise has MBD from what I can see in the video, but you should make sure it is getting enough UV and calcium to prevent that problem.

TammyJ · May 16, 2026

Could you put the tortoise on a flat, hard surface to walk and do another video?

swatata · May 17, 2026

This is him on the couch as our floors are all glossy and wooden and he slips on them

TammyJ · May 17, 2026

I can't see the video

swatata · May 17, 2026

TammyJ said:
I can't see the video

Strange, should be public as I can see it has views

TammyJ · May 17, 2026

When I click on it I just get a message "sign in to confirm you're not a bot."
And I just naturally withdraw.

zolasmum · May 17, 2026

swatata said:
This is him on the couch as our floors are all glossy and wooden and he slips on them

Could his claws be a bit long - both front and back ones ?

swatata · May 18, 2026

zolasmum said:
Could his claws be a bit long - both front and back ones ?

Yes, his nails have grown a bit bigger and I need to trim them down. I haven't done it yet as he was a baby before. How do you approach it without an exotic vet? I know that I can file them or use a clipper, but with a clipper I have to be careful not to clip too much into the "darker" part of the nail which is his actual blood vessels.

zolasmum · May 18, 2026

I don't think you would need an exotic vet for this -any vet for small animals woud be likely to have some sort of a clipper, I should think, and you could emphasise that you only want a tiny bit taken off at first. Then you could leave it for a bit, and see if that helps. Then go again for another small amount if necessary. Really, though, it isn't all that difficult to clip them yourself with nail scissors - again, just a little bit at a time. If you are able to let him walk on a fairly rough surface at times, that will help keep them short too,
Angie

zovick · May 18, 2026

swatata said:
This is him on the couch as our floors are all glossy and wooden and he slips on them

This tortoise has none of the signs of MBD. It appears to be walking perfectly well, just a bit timidly.

COmtnLady · May 18, 2026

swatata said:
Yes, his nails have grown a bit bigger and I need to trim them down. I haven't done it yet as he was a baby before. How do you approach it without an exotic vet? I know that I can file them or use a clipper, but with a clipper I have to be careful not to clip too much into the "darker" part of the nail which is his actual blood vessels.

I keep a slab in my enclosure that has an abrasive surface and put the feeding dish on the far side of it so that my tortoise walks across it daily several times. It feels like sandstone to the touch, but doesn't slough off particles/sand. This keeps the nails "filed" off nicely with no effort. (Look at the front foot in my profile pic to see how well this works, its never been trimmed by human hands in the seven years we've had her. )

Opinions on how he walks

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