over grown beak or underdeveloped bottom jaw

[johnsy]

Originally Posted by Neddy

Hi Johnsy,

Do you have woodlands, parks or fields near you?, if so you can go weed picking. This time of year there are plenty you just need to do you homework. The tortoise table is a great site for identifying not only weeds & wild flowers but house & garden plants, Grasses & Ferns, even fruit and veg. Here is the site:
http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp

Pellets are fine to feed and will certainly help with variety.

Nutrobal should be sparsely sprinkled every other day as you don't want to over do it.

Cuttlefish bones soaked in warm water can sometimes tempt them into eating it......worth a try.

The vet should be able to take more off the beak, but I can appreciate why they wouldn't do it all in one go.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sara

thanks for your input,i pickeed some dandelion leaves from outside my flat earlier and he chomped on them straight out my hand, then had a stomp around my front room

[Easter Bunny]

I Wonder if you could tempt him to eat the cuttlefish by squeezing cucumber or strawberry on it

[johnsy]

Originally Posted by LYNNEE

I Wonder if you could tempt him to eat the cuttlefish by squeezing cucumber or strawberry on it

you'll prob's have more kuck than i did with the rocks lol he's not stupid

[EJ]

That is the main abrasive material.

Originally Posted by Bindi

I believe that the tearing of weeds and stalks help keep the beak down.

[Levi]

I agree weeds are good,

I didn't have to trim my ibera's beak for the first 30 years and she has never been interested in cuttlefish or chewing limestone. I got her a large slate recently but she much prefers to eat off of bare soil.

Getting him/her off that horribly unnatural substrate will also help, weeds are even more abrasive with a little sand soil stuck to them.

[johnsy]

Originally Posted by Levi

I agree weeds are good,

I didn't have to trim my ibera's beak for the first 30 years and she has never been interested in cuttlefish or chewing limestone. I got her a large slate recently but she much prefers to eat off of bare soil.

Getting him/her off that horribly unnatural substrate will also help, weeds are even more abrasive with a little sand soil stuck to them.

he's never seen soil so does'nt know any different, besides i thought sand increase chance of eye infections

iv had a 9"x15"x2" deep soiled are before and he just used it as a toilet ,which inturn attracted fly's pretty quickly,he's fed of slate for over 2 years now

[Levi]

Originally Posted by johnsy

he's never seen soil so does'nt know any different, besides i thought sand increase chance of eye infections

iv had a 9"x15"x2" deep soiled are before and he just used it as a toilet ,which inturn attracted fly's pretty quickly,he's fed of slate for over 2 years now

I think pooing and weeing on their substrate is pretty normal behaviour for most tortoises, I just dig up and compost any wet patches etc. Mostly she will do it outside and I can just pick it up and wash it down with a watering can.
My girls been living on and digging in soil, sand, rocks and grass all her life and she has never had an eye infection or ever seen a vet (touch wood), I'm sure a healthy diet and plenty of natural sun light have helped, although so far this year there has been hardly any sun and she is getting a little depressed.

[MeImNot]

30 years experience is hard to beat...I agree with Levi 100% and following same methods hoping that it will work for me too.

Seeing her fight with a mature plantain leaf shows you what their beak is capable of.

[cherylahutch]

Mine loves his topsoil he loves digging in it, I cover it in tortoise substrate from pets at home which stops him getting too messy and have a small area covered in bark for a bit of variety. Not had any eye problems either. If your tort eats that bedding it could do some damage to it.