Beak trim?

[steppingonlegos]

hi all - our girl, Benny, who is 6yo, has what I guess is an overgrown beak. She won’t eat cuttlebone and has been free ranging all summer so not eating on cement slabs like she used to. I know some small diet changes to help her going forward. But is this something we should take her to a vet to do? Our vet looked at her and said they would have to sedate her and seemed confused about the Dracula effect of her beak which makes me a little concerned that the vet doesn’t have that much experience with sulcatas specifically, but then either do I as Benny is our first.

Vet said diet was fine (I disagree) and that Benny needs calcium supplements and a place to soak more often (not sure I agree on that either - her grazing diet is pretty high in water content and we do soak her but not as often as we did when she was little and we did calcium supplements religiously when she was little too but I thought that wasn’t necessary eventually? Told us to do calcium powder instead of cuttlebone if she doesn’t like cuttlebone but I fail to see how that would help grind down her teeth.

I know we have some experts here on this stuff. Should I just have the vet sedate and trim?

 

[Tim Carlisle]

I'd get a second opinion from another vet. Personally, I don't find it necessary to sedate for a beak trim. Many folks do it themselves. I use a Dremel tool on a good day when my hands aren't shaking too bad. lol

 

[2wgasa]

I'd get a second opinion from another vet. Personally, I don't find it necessary to sedate for a beak trim. Many folks do it themselves. I use a Dremel tool on a good day when my hands aren't shaking too bad. lol

Do you have a method to coax him not to retract his head during that? Thanks

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Do you have a method to coax him not to retract his head during that? Thanks

The one time I was able to do it myself - I had to back him int a corner and secure his head between two fingers. This was a box turtle. It was definitely a test of my patience! Anymore, I go to a vet to do it, but the vet never sedated him to do it. I won't even try this on my sulcata. He'd fight me to the death. lol

 

[Yvonne G]

That 'dracula effect', as you called it, is quite common in sulcatas. You can take a heavy duty toenail clipper and just clip off the tips. I set the tortoise on a 2x4 on a fence so the legs hang free and can't touch anything. You won't be able to hold a sulcata's head out of that size, so if you aren't able to surprise clip, then maybe laying him on his back will keep the head out. It might take two people.

 

[steppingonlegos]

That 'dracula effect', as you called it, is quite common in sulcatas. You can take a heavy duty toenail clipper and just clip off the tips. I set the tortoise on a 2x4 on a fence so the legs hang free and can't touch anything. You won't be able to hold a sulcata's head out of that size, so if you aren't able to surprise clip, then maybe laying him on his back will keep the head out. It might take two people.

Thanks so much - I was going to tag you to ask specifically! We have a pig whose hooves we trim and countless cats and dogs so surely if we can find a way to access her beak, we have the tools to handle it. I don't want to mess with a dremel because I think she would absolutely lose it.

Does any of the other advice the vet gave ring true at all for you? The bits about more access to soaking water or calcium powder to keep the beak short?

 

[Yvonne G]

They like to sit in a mud wallow on hot days, so a waterer he can fit into would be welcomed. The calcium powder wasn't aimed at keeping the beak short, but rather to keep the shell and bones strong. Giving the tortoise hard food items he has to bite off helps with the beak. . . broccoli stems, watermelon rinds, etc. And don't cut the food up into small pieces.

 

[steppingonlegos]

They like to sit in a mud wallow on hot days, so a waterer he can fit into would be welcomed. The calcium powder wasn't aimed at keeping the beak short, but rather to keep the shell and bones strong. Giving the tortoise hard food items he has to bite off helps with the beak. . . broccoli stems, watermelon rinds, etc. And don't cut the food up into small pieces.

Thanks - she has access to a legit mud wallow. Maybe I'll add a splash pad. She does come out whenever it rains (which is pretty regularly). The vet literally said to use cuttlebone to keep her beak short which we knew about and we said she doesn't like it and she said to use powder instead. I understand the benefits in general of calcium powder but I did not think they extended to beak length. We have not done hard food items so I'll add some of that into her rotation! Thank you!

 

[2wgasa]

That 'dracula effect', as you called it, is quite common in sulcatas. You can take a heavy duty toenail clipper and just clip off the tips. I set the tortoise on a 2x4 on a fence so the legs hang free and can't touch anything. You won't be able to hold a sulcata's head out of that size, so if you aren't able to surprise clip, then maybe laying him on his back will keep the head out. It might take two people.

Is the "dracula effect" actually detrimental or just an appearance thing? He seems to be able to eat anything, e.g. grape leaves, oat hay, cactus, and has always used sort of a scythe move when grazing on grass. thanks

 

[steppingonlegos]

Is the "dracula effect" actually detrimental or just an appearance thing? He seems to be able to eat anything, e.g. grape leaves, oat hay, cactus, and has always used sort of a scythe move when grazing on grass. thanks

My girl definitly seems to be struggling with bigger foods. She can eat grass and smaller weeds fine but she's not tearing apart the stuff we give her like she used to.

 

[steppingonlegos]

Got it taken care of! Upside down didn’t give us access but we smeared some berry on the cement and that kept him occupied enough to snip away with a cuticle scissors. Super easy! Dandelion pic shows just the left “fang” and the other pic is the post raspberry beak trim.

Thanks for the help! So glad we skipped the vet.

 

[Cathie G]

View attachment 360015View attachment 360016

Got it taken care of! Upside down didn’t give us access but we smeared some berry on the cement and that kept him occupied enough to snip away with a cuticle scissors. Super easy! Dandelion pic shows just the left “fang” and the other pic is the post raspberry beak trim.

Thanks for the help! So glad we skipped the vet.

😊 What a cutie pie face 😍

 

[SatchelMonster]

I love the term ‘dracula effect’ haha! This is the first time I’m hearing about folks trimming beaks. Didn’t know that was a thing. Satchel has very intimidating dracula fangs and there’s no way I’d be able to clip them. He’s feisty!

 

[Hippytort]

Had to trim my 15 year old's beak once a few years ago. I just hold out a big yellow hibiscus flower (his favorite), Then sneak in with the other hand with a sharp pair of side cutters while he had his mouth open and snip. Repeat for the other side. He didn't even know I trimmed him. He wanted that flower! lol

 

[steppingonlegos]

Had to trim my 15 year old's beak once a few years ago. I just hold out a big yellow hibiscus flower (his favorite), Then sneak in with the other hand with a sharp pair of side cutters while he had his mouth open and snip. Repeat for the other side. He didn't even know I trimmed him. He wanted that flower! lol

Yes! Think this is the easiest and least traumatizing method!