Keeping beak short.

[Fairless Dave]

There is something that I don't understand about keeping a beak short. The advice is to feed the tort on something rough like slate or some type of rough rock. How does that really work? I feed my torts on slate and rarely does their beak even touch it. If there is a pile of greens, obviously their head and mouth are not at rock level for most if not all of the feeding. I have had torts for dozens of years and this just doesn't work. I can never recall seeing any tort "scrape" the rock with their beaks. What am I missing? Thank you.

 

[Ben02]

There is something that I don't understand about keeping a beak short. The advice is to feed the tort on something rough like slate or some type of rough rock. How does that really work? I feed my torts on slate and rarely does their beak even touch it. If there is a pile of greens, obviously their head and mouth are not at rock level for most if not all of the feeding. I have had torts for dozens of years and this just doesn't work. I can never recall seeing any tort "scrape" the rock with their beaks. What am I missing? Thank you.

Have you got a cuttlebone?

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Hey...when all else fails....

JUST KIDDING BTW!

How old is your tort?

 

[Fairless Dave]

Hey...when all else fails....

JUST KIDDING BTW!

How old is your tort?

He's about 10. He won't chew on cuttlebone or calcium block and I'm taking him to get his beak trimmed every 6 months now after a couple of years of not even needed it. There seems to be nothing I can do to keep it at a reasonable length on it's own.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

I could never do this myself (hands shake too much), but...

 

[Ben02]

Hey...when all else fails....

JUST KIDDING BTW!

How old is your tort?

Haha that made me chuckle

 

[Yvonne G]

There is something that I don't understand about keeping a beak short. The advice is to feed the tort on something rough like slate or some type of rough rock. How does that really work? I feed my torts on slate and rarely does their beak even touch it. If there is a pile of greens, obviously their head and mouth are not at rock level for most if not all of the feeding. I have had torts for dozens of years and this just doesn't work. I can never recall seeing any tort "scrape" the rock with their beaks. What am I missing? Thank you.

In nature tortoises bite their food off of stems or blades. They use their beak at every feeding, thus keeping it trimmed naturally. In captivity we pile up the food on a slate or feeding tile and all the tortoise has to do is 'tongue' it into his mouth, hardly ever using his beak. To be honest, I've never seen a rough piece of cement doing any good at beak trimming. Even my big sulcata, Dudley, who grazes his every meal, has some overgrowth to his beak. There have been some anecdotal stories about tortoises actually polishing their beak on a rock, but I've personally never seen that. Just bear in mind that if you allow your tortoise's beak to get too long it's going to break off and the break won't be in an area that we would want it to be.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I've heard that feeding foods whole so they have to work for it rather than cutting it up helps. I've do this and never had a problem with beak getting long.

 

[Fairless Dave]

In nature tortoises bite their food off of stems or blades. They use their beak at every feeding, thus keeping it trimmed naturally. In captivity we pile up the food on a slate or feeding tile and all the tortoise has to do is 'tongue' it into his mouth, hardly ever using his beak. To be honest, I've never seen a rough piece of cement doing any good at beak trimming. Even my big sulcata, Dudley, who grazes his every meal, has some overgrowth to his beak. There have been some anecdotal stories about tortoises actually polishing their beak on a rock, but I've personally never seen that. Just bear in mind that if you allow your tortoise's beak to get too long it's going to break off and the break won't be in an area that we would want it to be.

So basically this is just as I thought, that this rough eating area to keep a beak trimmed is pretty much a myth.

 

[Fairless Dave]

Have you got a cuttlebone?

Yes, and he won't go near it. Same with one of those calcium blocks that taste like greens. No interest.

 

[Fairless Dave]

I could never do this myself (hands shake too much), but...

I would never do it myself either, but I wouldn't use that method if I did. My vet uses a dremel and even with someone helping him it took a half hour wrestling match.

 

[Kells Bells]

My torts beak has definitely worn down using a slate but not when he eats his greens but when I give him mazuri. He loves it that much I can hear him scraping his beak against the slate trying to get the very last bit

 

[dmilam]

Interesting video but man she’s a little rough....

 

[Lime pickle]

Yes she is very rough. I take mine to my exotic vets who trim it beautifully with an electric trimmer which takes seconds and no harm or pain to the tort. Using an old emery board like she is is not on.