Tortoise Beak

[TortoiseMD]

I recently acquired a tortoise that has an obvious beak, it is not affecting feeding or nutritional status, but wanted to know if generaly people trim or file these beaks or what do you do to correct it?

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

I don't trim. I feed my torts on a piece of slate and they seem to wear it down on their own. I also provide cuttle bone (don't know if that helps with beaks) and rocks around the watering dish (maybe the gnaw on them?).

 

[GBtortoises]

Under normal circumstances there should be no need to regularly (or ever) file the beak down. By normal circumstances I mean that the tortoise (or turtle) has a way to keep it's beak trimmed where it should be on it's own. A rough feeding surface can be used, stone, slate, unfinished clay pot base are helpful. Anything that they can consume that is not soft such as cuttlebone, the stems and bases of plants, hay with stems in it, etc... I also feed them greens in large pieces so that they have hold, tear and bite to get what they want. This not only allows them to use their beak more for what it was intended but also gives them more activity.

I have received tortoises with extremely overgrown beaks before and trim them with a dremel and small sanding disc or drum. This is really a two person job. One person needs to hold the tortoise still and secure it's head from moving while the other person carefully sands some of the overgrowth away. It's a task that should be done slowly and carefully but it's actually very easy to do.

 

[Yvonne G]

When you find a turtle or tortoise that already has an over grown beak or mis-shapen beak, you have to manually intervene. If you just want to be sure your tortoise's beaks stay looking good, then feeding on a rough surface works fine.

I have some Manouria tortoises who's beaks grow crooked. This is a common problem with the Manouria. I have to file them down. I hold the tortoise on the top of a fence so that his legs are out in the air with no purchase on any stronghold. I also hold out a front leg so the tortoise can't retreat into his shell. So, I'm supporting the tortoise with my body and holding a leg and, if possible, the neck with my two hands. The other person will either be holding the neck (if I can't) and be operating the Dremmel tool. On the larger tortoises the beaks are VERY hard and sometimes start to smoke. You have to stop a lot to allow them to cool. And be very careful. On the smaller tortoises, you can get the job done fairly quickly and easily. The hardest part is holding out the head.

With small box turtles, I can do it by myself. I hold the head right behind the jaws with one hand and operate a toe-nail clipper with the other hand. I just nip off a small piece with the side edge of the clipper, starting at one side of the beak and continuing around the front and ending on the other side. You never want to take too much at a time. Just little nips.

I just realized that this thread is in the Hermann's section. So all my typing about the larger tortoises was useless. Sorry. I've used the toe-nail clippers on Russian tortoises. But a Dremmel works too.

 

[TortoiseMD]

Thank you all for your input, filing the beak seems like a difficult job, I will try feeding on a hard surface as suggested, I never had a tortoise develop over grown beak while in my care, I always have a cuttlebone and feed large unchopped greens with stems, I also keep few rocks in their enclosures.
I will see if the beak will wear off naturally with time...

 

[GBtortoises]

If the beak is overgrown to the point of impeding food intake or the tortoise being able to hold and tear food with it then it should be corrected right away. Waiting for it to wear down naturally will take months or longer.

Once it has been corrected rough surfaces & hard foods will help to maintain it where it should be.

If it isn't that bad and the tortoise is eating and functioning normally then the less evasive method is the way to go.

Pictures always help when asking questions here!