Please help!! Overgrown lower jaw?

[minty_fresh]

Hello, my boy Tank is a Hermann’s tortoise who is around 11 years old. I’ve had him since I was little and was NOT educated on how to properly take care of him, and have recently been nonstop researching and building a better environment for him for the past two years. I want my tort to have the best life possible, and I’m very open to criticism and learning.

I’m currently struggling with what’s going on his lower jaw, it seems to be wide open or dislocated? I’ve scoured the internet and cannot find any solutions or causes for this. I have him in an 8x8 enclosure, repti bark substrate (i’ve tried using coco noir and others, it all sticks to him and he accidentally eats it), and I feed him dandelion greens, lettuce, and tortoise pellets on slate plates and water in a terracotta bowl. I used to feed him a lot more variety greens and weeds but living in Arizona now makes it a little difficult.

He also has a fluorescent flood light bulb, and proper UVB lighting from Acadia 5.0 T5.

I have taken him to an exotic vet, and they said that it’s not affecting the way he eats or drinks and to use those tortoise hay pellets to help. They had no concerns regarding his jaw and said he’s fine. I want to ask everyone here if I should be as heartbroken looking at him as I am, because this does not look normal and it’s extremely concerning. I have been trimming his beak, although it seems very stressful for him.

His jaw was not normally like this up until a year ago, and it was sudden. Do I trim the lower beak area that looks overgrown? Should I go to a different vet? Is he in pain? He seems to eat and drink fine overall. I’m just so worried and devastated.

 

[Yvonne G]

It's the UPPER beak that's overgrown, and seems to be pushing the lower beak off to the side. Try to find a vet that can grind them down for you

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

I would take him to another vet to get an initial trim, after that you might be able to maintain it at home.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Bless him, this definitely needs correcting, I’d definitely get a second opinion, even an avian vet might be able to help with a beak trim

 

[zovick]

Hello, my boy Tank is a Hermann’s tortoise who is around 11 years old. I’ve had him since I was little and was NOT educated on how to properly take care of him, and have recently been nonstop researching and building a better environment for him for the past two years. I want my tort to have the best life possible, and I’m very open to criticism and learning.

I’m currently struggling with what’s going on his lower jaw, it seems to be wide open or dislocated? I’ve scoured the internet and cannot find any solutions or causes for this. I have him in an 8x8 enclosure, repti bark substrate (i’ve tried using coco noir and others, it all sticks to him and he accidentally eats it), and I feed him dandelion greens, lettuce, and tortoise pellets on slate plates and water in a terracotta bowl. I used to feed him a lot more variety greens and weeds but living in Arizona now makes it a little difficult.

He also has a fluorescent flood light bulb, and proper UVB lighting from Acadia 5.0 T5.

I have taken him to an exotic vet, and they said that it’s not affecting the way he eats or drinks and to use those tortoise hay pellets to help. They had no concerns regarding his jaw and said he’s fine. I want to ask everyone here if I should be as heartbroken looking at him as I am, because this does not look normal and it’s extremely concerning. I have been trimming his beak, although it seems very stressful for him.

His jaw was not normally like this up until a year ago, and it was sudden. Do I trim the lower beak area that looks overgrown? Should I go to a different vet? Is he in pain? He seems to eat and drink fine overall. I’m just so worried and devastated.

I would recommend finding a different exotics vet who will agree to trim both the upper and lower beaks to get them into the proper alignment. Note that doing this may take more than one visit and an amount of time between visits may be necessary. Also note that anethetizing the tortoise for such a procedure would make it a lot easier and less stressful for both the vet and the tortoise.

As Yvonne said, a vet with an avian concentration might be a good choice as they may encounter such trimming cases more frequently than other exotic vets.