Herman tortoise beak trim?

[Krischris]

Hi All,
I am you already discussed this topic several times. My Herman tortoise’s beak was shipped and eventually ripped off. Should I be concerned and also should I trim the other side since it’s clearly overgrown?
Thank you so much for any answers.

P.S.-don’t mind the color. He was snacking on a blackberries.

 

[Ink]

@Yvonne G should have helpful information on trimming the beak. No fruit should be fed, they can't process the sugar.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Second the above, no more fruit

How is he kept now? Indoors or outdoors? What size?
What are your temperatures like? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps, night temps?
What lighting&heating are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any!
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
What level is your humidity currently? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of your full set up would be great if you’re willing to share!

 

[zolasmum]

Could you send a photo of the other side of his beak, as well, please?
Angie

 

[Krischris]

Second the above, no more fruit

How is he kept now? Indoors or outdoors? What size?
What are your temperatures like? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps, night temps?
What lighting&heating are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any!
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
What level is your humidity currently? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of your full set up would be great if you’re willing to share!

He lives

Could you send a photo of the other side of his beak, as well, please?
Angie

 

[Krischris]

Rusty is with us since summer 2019. He was a little over 4” long when we got him but I don’t know how old was he exactly. He hated his enclosure since the day one and always was trying to escape. I found him upside down handful of time so we let him freely run around the house through the day and put him in his enclosure at night. During the summer he lives on our large balcony and is happily basking on the sun and sleeping on the same spot under his “blanket”. He likes to have something on him when he goes to sleep. (He would slip under the fallen pillows or blanket when he was walking around the house.)
His inclosure is tortoise house wooden box and has usually zoo meds forest floor bedding we have to spray with water to hydrate, since we live in Utah and it’s really dry here. His lighting is uva and uvb power sun lightbulb.
Rusty gets his Friday bath regularly and his favorite food is top of the green lettuce. He also get mix of other greens and variety of fruits. I also add calcium +D3 and multi vitamins powder on his food. He is eating usually pretty good and if he wants something extra he would crawl around our legs to get the attention.
We never let him hibernate.

His beak was never trimmed and frankly I didn’t know it was a thing till he cracked it this summer. I did trim the cracked part a little but was scared to go too far. Later on he chipped it off. Now I don’t know what to do.

I hope I cover all your questions?

Thank you for your help.

Picture of this early days from 2019

 

[zolasmum]

Do you have a recent photo of the left side of his beak with his mouth open, to see better what needs doing? If that side is still intact, it will still have to be trimmed gradually to balance with the cracked side.
Angie

 

[Krischris]

Did you get the picture I sent you?

 

[Ink]

I

Did you get the picture I sent you?

Is it the first new photo? Then a picture of him in an enclosure?

 

[Krischris]

I
Is it the first new photo? Then a picture of him in an enclosure?

I will do it again.

 

[Krischris]

Would this work? Je is eating now. I can take one after he is done…

 

[Ink]

@zolasmum
It works. Hopefully someone can help you soon

 

[zovick]

I will do it again.

Unfortunately, your tortoise's beak is severely overgrown. The front of the beak is much too long and is no longer shaped properly, which resulted in the side portion cracking and coming off. The front of the beak and the left side could stand to have from a quarter to nearly a half an inch taken off of them. The broken side needs to be smoothed and tapered into the front portion of the beak.

This drastic trimming cannot be done all at once. It needs to be trimmed a little at a time over a fairly long period of time to achieve the proper shape and relationship with the lower jaw. This would best be done by a knowledgeable exotics veterinarian.

Hopefully you have one near you who can help you.

 

[Krischris]

Unfortunately, your tortoise's beak is severely overgrown. The front of the beak is much too long and is no longer shaped properly, which resulted in the side portion cracking and coming off. The front of the beak and the left side could stand to have from a quarter to nearly a half an inch taken off of them. The broken side needs to be smoothed and tapered into the front portion of the beak.

This drastic trimming cannot be done all at once. It needs to be trimmed a little at a time over a fairly long period of time to achieve the proper shape and relationship with the lower jaw. This would best be done by a knowledgeable exotics veterinarian.

Hopefully you have one near you who can help you.

Thank you so much for your response. In will do’!

 

[zovick]

Thank you so much for your response. In will do’!

Sounds good. Best of luck to you and your tortoise.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Rusty is with us since summer 2019. He was a little over 4” long when we got him but I don’t know how old was he exactly. He hated his enclosure since the day one and always was trying to escape. I found him upside down handful of time so we let him freely run around the house through the day and put him in his enclosure at night. During the summer he lives on our large balcony and is happily basking on the sun and sleeping on the same spot under his “blanket”. He likes to have something on him when he goes to sleep. (He would slip under the fallen pillows or blanket when he was walking around the house.)
His inclosure is tortoise house wooden box and has usually zoo meds forest floor bedding we have to spray with water to hydrate, since we live in Utah and it’s really dry here. His lighting is uva and uvb power sun lightbulb.
Rusty gets his Friday bath regularly and his favorite food is top of the green lettuce. He also get mix of other greens and variety of fruits. I also add calcium +D3 and multi vitamins powder on his food. He is eating usually pretty good and if he wants something extra he would crawl around our legs to get the attention.
We never let him hibernate.

His beak was never trimmed and frankly I didn’t know it was a thing till he cracked it this summer. I did trim the cracked part a little but was scared to go too far. Later on he chipped it off. Now I don’t know what to do.

I hope I cover all your questions?

Thank you for your help.

Picture of this early days from 2019

Thank you for your reply, I would highly discourage you letting him free roam your home for multiple reasons, not just hazards, it can lead to numerous health problems. If he had less than an 8x4foot enclosure that was likely the driving force in him wanting to escape, they need housing in an appropriate size that best mimics their natural habitat, our homes don’t meet their needs like that.

The all in one compact screw in heat&uv bulbs aren’t the safest or most efficient choice unfortunately. I explain more in my common errors thread.

I think you’ll find this indoor housing thread I made useful, it covers correct equipment(lighting, heating, uv), levels, appropriately maintaining humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out!

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

When it comes to setting up, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they help!