Rescued tortoise has nails curling under her feet!

[Pebbles18]

My family just took in a very neglected beautiful red foot tortoise. We have to clip our poor new girl's nails as they are so long they curl under her feet into the bottoms! Please, can someone tell me where the quick is located or how long the nails are supposed to be?

 

[wellington]

Post a pic of her feet and nails

 

[daniellenc]

Pic needed!

 

[Pearly]

Should be able to clip them just like on a dog or cat. Unless it’s huge tortoise with huge nails?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

You should just clip off a bit of the tip weekly until you get them back into the shape they're supposed to be in. If you do it in real bright sunshine, you can see the quick in the center of the nail.

 

[MPRC]

Trim slowly and keep some corn starch or styptic powder handy in case you get too close to the quick. Also if you have a safe area with cement you can exercise her on that and it will help immensly. Getting a tort off of a glass bottom fish tank and on to a solid natural surface does wonders.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Hi and welcome!

You should just clip off a bit of the tip weekly until you get them back into the shape they're supposed to be in. If you do it in real bright sunshine, you can see the quick in the center of the nail.

Agree here for sure. You don’t want to do this just once. Small snippets over time until you get them in shape.

 

[TammyJ]

Would be great to see some pictures! All the best.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've never seen that on a Redfoot.
Walking over cement or slate areas wear them down.