Lose scale? Growth? on cheek / mouth

Paranub

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Dec 10, 2015
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This is the second time he has had this. the first time we thought it was a cut that was healing as a scab. it looks more like a loose scale, that he has caught with his claw when eating.. or a sort of growth of skin.
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It did impede how he opened his mouth as when it is dry, it was probably acting as a scab would. making it uncomfortable to open his mouth.
Sure enough though, once he does "break" the scab, he eats just fine. we helped soften it with morning soaks before breakfast.

This morning after his soak, the growth looked very soft and squishy. As he was eating his breakfast he rubbed his front leg across his mouth and the growth came loose. As though it was about to fall off. A few hours later i saw he walking around his table and could see that it had indeed now fallen off.

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The skin underneath looks rather well. no signs of blood or a open wound.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
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Yvonne G

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What it looks like to me (and remember, I'm looking at a picture, not the live animal, so it's mainly a guess based on past experience) is that the tortoise's mouth was forced to open bigger/wider than the skin in the corner allowed and it tore the skin. This happens sometimes when tortoise is trying to climb the slippery wall and quickly slides down, catching his mouth in the process, and the mouth gets forced open too wide.

You can aid healing by keeping it moist. Neosporin or some sort of healing ointment kept on the spot until it is healed.
 

Paranub

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Dec 10, 2015
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What it looks like to me (and remember, I'm looking at a picture, not the live animal, so it's mainly a guess based on past experience) is that the tortoise's mouth was forced to open bigger/wider than the skin in the corner allowed and it tore the skin. This happens sometimes when tortoise is trying to climb the slippery wall and quickly slides down, catching his mouth in the process, and the mouth gets forced open too wide.

You can aid healing by keeping it moist. Neosporin or some sort of healing ointment kept on the spot until it is healed.
What would a UK alternative be for neosporin? We have hydrocortisone cream. Or E45 cream. Google doesn't show anywhere we can buy neosporin here. :(
 

Yvonne G

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Just go to the pharmacy and look for any ointment that's sold in the first aid part of the store. The main idea is to keep the spot lubricated so it will stay soft. Even Vaseline would work.
 
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