upturned beak! weight loss! help!

[angelrid]

hi all, i am new to this forum, i have two gorgeous hermans aged 2.5 years one of them has an upturned beak (i would post a pic if i was brainy enough) instead of coming from the top of mouth seems to come from the chin upwards.
i havent hibernated this year and until a few weeks ago both seemed perfectly healthy, recently they have slept more and eaten less and am a bit concerned that all is well, i am weighing neurotically and the one with the upturned beak seems to be losing weight

can anyone help?

they live in a table top pen and temp seems ok, they are in my living room though and recently we havent been puttin the coal fire on so may be a few degrees cooler for them than it was and i have changed my substrate from aspen to hemp

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi angelrid:

to the forum!

I'm having trouble picturing your beak problem. Here's a link to how to post pictures. I think we're going to need to see what you're talking about:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-5245.html

 

[angelrid]

hi i have hopefully uploaded a picture to show what i mean it just comes upwards rather than downwards but i have never seen it before? please let me know if you can see it and hopefully help
thanks
angela

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KODAK ESP-3 AiO - Connected

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nah think i am real thick but i cant get it to do it! sorry will try again tomorrow as am desperate for help thanks anyway x

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Angela:

Your tortoise is a Russian tortoise. Now I see what you mean about his beak. This is generally caused by not allowing the tortoise to graze on weeds and grasses. You can take him to a vet and have it filed down to a more normal size, or if you're handy and brave you can try it yourself. Be careful, though, as it is similar to your fingernail, that is, there is a blood supply down below the tip and if you file too close to that it causes pain and bleeding.

Here's a good care sheet for the Russian (Horsefield's) tortoise:

http://russiantortoise.net/care_sheet.htm

 

[motero]

I can say that doesn't look good, Others will know what to do. I only post because I want to learn what causes this and what remedies this. Maybe some more pictures from different angles and one with his mouth open to see the upper beak would help. Good luck.

 

[egyptiandan]

The lower beak is definately growing up over the upper beak. Time to see a vet to get that fixed, as there is something going on with the upper beak to let the lower beak grow like that. I wouldn't try to fix that yourself, unless you'd done it before.

Danny

 

[ChiKat]

How odd, I have never seen the lower beak grow up like that.

 

[angelrid]

thanks everybody am booking an appointment as we speak!

for the record it was like that when i got her, i am obsessive over the care of my torts morla and victor and my two girls think i love my (babas) torts more then them, i am just new to them and always learning so thankyou xx