Shell & Beak Health

[symplestytches]

So I've had A'tuin for about 5 1/2 years, and he hasn't grown at all in that time frame, and is still under 5" SCL (currently at 12 cm). Also, his shell has had these ridges along it, from before I got him, that I'm guessing is pyramiding? I'm not positive though, since he's the only shelled critter I've ever had, and don't plan to get any more, due to his mycoplasma. He has had scarring from old shell rot, but hasn't had any new spots show up.

Also, the vet trimmed down his beak, I'm wondering if it needs to be trimmed down more.

P.S. - he is currently on a towel due to his being on a de-worming medication and not being allowed into his normal enclosure until we get the all-clear from the Dr.

 

[Yvonne G]

No, those ridges are just growth lines. There is no pyramiding on that tortoise.

The beak is still a bit over grown, however, if you make him bite off his food plus feed him on a rough surface, like a scrap of cement, it will start to wear down naturally.

 

[symplestytches]

yay on no pyramiding!!!

we have tried everything we can to get him to eat on stones or the slate tiles to wear his beak down.... he just drags it all off of the place I set it to eat it on his substrate, the little stinker. and he won't touch the cuttlefish bone that I place him his enclosure (and I've tried weathering it, soaking it in safe things, etc), so I am going to try making those calcium carbonate blocks that I've read about on here to see if he'll be more attracted to that. Maybe I will go to the hardware store to pick up a cement brick or three to feed him on those? or one of the paving stones that's larger? wouldn't he scrape up his plastron on the cement brick?

 

[Yvonne G]

I use pieces of broken cement plus the occasional paving stone. I even have some in the shape of tortoises.

 

[symplestytches]

good to know! I will have to see what I can scrounge up around here that could work for his beak. how can i keep him from just dragging it off the cement/stone and to have him eat it there? feed him in a bin on the stone?

 

[ascott]

What a perfectly shaped shell...lovely tortoise.

 

[symplestytches]

Thanks, Angela! I did have a question about growth: should he have gotten larger in the past five years that I've had him? It seems like he hasn't grown at all, and it isn't for lack of eating =)

I have been trying to vary his diet, but I need to start incorporating some more weeds in his meals and cutting out most of the spring mix that he tends to prefer. Would that help him grow up, or is he always going to stay just under the 5" mark?

 

[ascott]

That is the correct size for the species....he is not undersized....males can be 6 inches or a touch more...so not to worry...and keep offering the food that he likes while sneaking in some new ones to the mix....

You can get a few slate tiles from the hardware store and rinse them really well and spread them about the food dish so when he drags the food away from the dish he still may have them land on the rougher surface...the rougher surface will also be beneficial to the nails and such....when a tortoise walks about they will lift their shell high enough to not scrape across the rough surface...just be sure to sink the tiles or pavers you use down into the dirt so there is not a high ledge to go up and down from....

 

[symplestytches]

Oh good, I thought he was a runt or something =)

and good idea on the tiles, I will definitely pick up a few more to put in his enclosure, especially since we find out sunday if he's all clean of parasites. When I build his bigger/better enclosure at our new home (in a few months), I'm going to try to make an upper level for a feeding area that is purely tile/cement covered so he has no excuse but to eat there!

 

[symplestytches]

oh, and yet another random question: if I want to plant stuff in his enclosure, how to I rehydrate the substrate without disturbing the new plantings? can I just mist? or would it be better just to leave the plants in their pots and rotate them out each time I hydrate the substrate?

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Just water it. You don't have to stir it in.

 

[symplestytches]

and this whole time i've been emptying the enclosure of all hides, rocks, water dishes, and pouring water on all of it and mixing it all up again........

 

[Camryn]

Omg he is really cute. Poor little guy
He looks like he has a little buck tooth.

 

[symplestytches]

If he'll let me, I'm going to try filing his beak down bit by bit using the emery board method that Katie/Biochemnerd808 made a video on. I have a few tiles at home that i'm going to place in his enclosure monday night, after I get that okay from the vet that he's clear of the protozoa that they've been treating him for.