Underbite

Our smallest of 3 Sulcattas has an underbite.He is 16 inches long. I hoped he would outgrow, but not the case. He eats well, but I have to chop up the harder foods into pretty small bites for him. I've noticed he eats grass from the side. I've included a picture. Thank you.

I had several Manouria tortoises with this over-shot under jaw. For the longest time I thought it might be a misaligned jaw, but came to realize it was due to a lack of calcium and minerals in their diet. Some tortoises seem to need more calcium and minerals than others do. Take the tortoise to a qualified tortoise vet and have the vet show you have to grind the beak with a Dremmel tool. You need to work at it constantly over a period of months/years to get it to start growing like it is supposed to grow. I've see articles where the tortoise actually had surgery to re-align the lower jaw, but I really don't think that's the problem. I'm pretty sure its a lack of calcium/minerals and sunshine that cause it to grow like that.

I have a smaller tortoise with an underbite. I was told by the person I purchased her from that it was because of her split scutes. I only bought her because she was suffering and I haggled the man down to a very cheap price. I've been worried that her underbite will effect her in the future but she has had no problems eating, gets supplements, and plenty of sunshine in her outdoor enclosure. Yvonne, do you think that the few months the man had her could have developed such an underbite?

I have spoken to my exotic vet, and he is more than willing to trim it when she's of proper size and it effects her eating. He believes that a fall while a hatchling caused the underbite.

Split scutes has nothing to do with the way the beak grows. I'm almost positive it has to do with calcium/mineral deficiency.

OK. It can't be sunshine, we'll head over to the "reptile house" today & see what they have for vitamin supplements.
Thank you

Yvonne G said:

Split scutes has nothing to do with the way the beak grows. I'm almost positive it has to do with calcium/mineral deficiency.

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Well I realize that the man I got her from is very misinformed and should not be in the business of animal husbandry, ever. However, in such a short span of time (aprox 4-5 months max) could he have given her such a small amount of calcium/minerals, or does it go back to the mother who gives some eggs a lack there of from self preservation? Kamek has been given all the proper supplements since she was (4-5) months old, and I know that her scute patter has done nothing to effect her health wise. The beak is still not realigning with correction to diet. Do you believe once the beak has began to grow this way, as a hatchling/year old, it stays that way forever? Or if the misalignment can be fixed with the proper care when caught young and can be corrected?

I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I'm just very interested in how you've come to that conclusion so I can speak to my vet next time I see her and bounce ideas off her as to if I need to give her more supplements or if it's just an injury from a man who has no care for his creatures.

The thing about calcium is that it needs UVB either from the sun or an expensive light in order to convert the UVB into vitamin d3. Without the vitamin the calcium doesn't work and just gets pee'd out in the urine.

No one can say for certain why your tortoise beak has grown like that, I was only going by my own experience with the same beak problem. My Manouria tortoises started exhibiting this problem at a young age too.

I've been searching the forums for this exact topic. My CDT Hercules has the exact same underbite as in the first picture here. It does not affect his eating and he seems very healthy.
I was planing to look into dealing with it after he comes out of hibernation next spring.
He showed no interest in cuttlebone. These three guys were on a heavy diet of lettuce for an unknown length of time. I have corrected their diet to some degree, but fresh lettuce is still like ice cream to them! All of them tear into the grass and weeds that i call a lawn. It's really funny, they had denuded large patches down to the underlying dichondra. My dad would have loved that!!

Next year i'll ramp up the calcium in their diets. They will also have lots of Sonoran weeds by then!

We'll revisit this in the future.