My rescue leo has a cracked beak

[countrygirlcolorado]

I rescued a leopard tort and noticed that she has a cracked beak. She can still eat but It takes her awhile. I don't know what I should do about it. She wouldn't sit still for pics (apparently doesn't want to be a model!) let me know what y'all think

 

[wellington]

Sorry, I can't really see what your talking about. However, I would just feed her on a flat piece of slate or rock and let her file it down naturally as she eats. Maybe others can see what your talking about and will have another suggestion. Congrats on getting the leopard. She's cute.

 

[countrygirlcolorado]

You can see inside the circle that there Is a section of her beak that's kind of poking out. Ill try to get better pics in the morning, she was kind of moody tonight.
Thanks! She is actually my 2nd Leo, I have a little 6 month old as well. Along with a red foot and a Russian!

 

[biochemnerd808]

I can see what you are talking about. It's right behind the hardest (middle) part of the beak, where the beak is a bit shorter. It doesn't so much look like it is cracked, but rather like it wore down unevenly as food maybe got stuck there behind the overgrown front part of the beak.

The beak looks long enough to me that it probably will need more than just feeding on a slate. I would recommend trying to file it down a bit with an emery board. You can do this bit by bit, and it looks like your tort is bold enough that you won't even have to hold on to her head while you do it. You can work on it little by little, over the course of several days. She may pee on you while you do it - wrap her in a towel or something.

Good luck!

You can see inside the circle that there Is a section of her beak that's kind of poking out. Ill try to get better pics in the morning, she was kind of moody tonight.
Thanks! She is actually my 2nd Leo, I have a little 6 month old as well. Along with a red foot and a Russian!

 

[Neal]

While it does look odd, I don't see anything that would be concerning at all. If you can, get him grazing on some grass and growing things. You can file it down if you are concerned about her eating, but I've seen tortoises with longer beaks than that do just fine.

 

[Watsonpartyof4]

I rescued a leopard tort and noticed that she has a cracked beak. She can still eat but It takes her awhile. I don't know what I should do about it. She wouldn't sit still for pics (apparently doesn't want to be a model!) let me know what y'all think

I would take her to a herp vet and have the beak Dremmeled. My herp vet charges 14 dollars. She looks like it is overgrown. The vet can even it up. Then feed her on a piece of slate.

 

[countrygirlcolorado]

Here Is a current pic, it seems to be black as well. Thanks for the advice I'd love to take her to a herp vet but I can't think of any in the Colorado Springs area

 

[Neal]

Oh wow, I totally missed how the bottom beak looked from your first pictures, I only saw the slightly overgrown upper beak.

It may be a good idea to trim it.

 

[countrygirlcolorado]

Is trimming it going to hurt it more though, if you look close it looks like it's pretty cracked. How would you go about trimming it? (My mom was a vet tec for 15 years so maybe she can do it)

 

[Yvonne G]

That needs to be clipped off. You can use a large toe nail clipper and just clip off the tip, then clip off a bit more, etc. until you have it down where it should be. To me, it looks like the bottom beak is growing out to the left because it doesn't match up with the upper beak, which is too long and needs to be clipped too.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Oh, wow, I totally missed the bottom beak being so overgrown in the previous pic. Yeah, that will definitely need to be trimmed, as emysemys said.

I would recommend seeing a vet for this, or maybe there is a reptile rescue organization near you that might do it? The reptile rescue in our area provides free beak trims. IF you can't find one and you and your Mom feel up to it, I have a blog post with instructions on how to do it. Here's a link: http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-trim-tortoises-beak-with-pictures.html Your tortoise is bigger than my Russians, so you may need 2 people involved, one holding on, one trimming. You can use a wooden chopstick to help open the beak, so you can reach the lower beak.

Good luck, and please keep us updated!

Here Is a current pic, it seems to be black as well. Thanks for the advice I'd love to take her to a herp vet but I can't think of any in the Colorado Springs area