nails/claws

[saucysqueezy]

thanks for the advice i didn't cut too near to the dark part of the nail but he did react badly to one cut so maybe i caught it then :S

monty - looks like it's a two person job! let me kno how your first clipping goes!

how often do people clip their torts nails?

[Monty]

will do! I'm a bit nervous now though. I've had a look at the claws and cant see any difference between light and dark. may have to use a light like you said.

[saucysqueezy]

Originally Posted by Monty

will do! I'm a bit nervous now though. I've had a look at the claws and cant see any difference between light and dark. may have to use a light like you said.

maybe they don't need trimming yet ?

If they are kept on correct substrate they will never need clipping. The only torts nails I have ever clipped have been rescue ones.

[saucysqueezy]

well ours are kept in the best conditions, have the correct diet and regulary climb on rocks and wood fixtures but again because they are not in the w ild 24/7 foreging then, like most pets, they need their nails clipped

monty - we only took off about 3 mm for each tortoise how about yourself

Really they should not grow long nails even in this country. It's nothing to do with what country they are in. The ones we saw in Turkey had exactly the same nails as mine and lived on similar substrate, not wood though<g> The same goes for dogs - when I was a dog beautician many years ago, people used to present me with dogs with horrendous claws. They assured me they walked them, let them run on concrete etc but those nails and flat feet always told the truth <vbg> Again I never ever cut my dogs nails

[saucysqueezy]

we have a lab and have to trim his nails once every year - only a little but it's better to keep them trim for his sake. My friend has a rabbit and they need trimming every year as well even though they live outdoors so... it's also dowwn to genetic makeup some torts will hav faster growing nails than others, only by mm but it shows more when they are young like ours - we only had to clip one of their nails the other was fine, the nails weren't stupidly long, but it's better to stay on top of things and we wanted to keep the nail length the same as when we got them. Although both arr active one seems to be growing a bit quicker than the other and he had the longer nail growth so again it might be slightly genetic, and strangely he's the more active of the two!

I'm not getting into an argument about this - the facts speak for themselves, so I suppose genetically long nails would spell a dead tort int he wild - yes <vbg>

[saucysqueezy]

no arguement is beginning - we have our tortoises in the garden, and when not they have rocks to climb and wood fixtures which they do, aswell as a sand and soil mix advised by sandy and hemp, really what every tortoise keeper uses, so we are keeping them correctly, they're eating a weed diet and have correct lighting so it's genetics or lazy tortoises lol! these tortoises weren't taken from the wild, so could explain the genetics passing on for longer claws, but then again in the wild they would be exposed to more hard terrain so... it's all theoretical and factual, and in this case the facts are our torts have bloody long claws hahaha

I just looked at your website haha Nuff said - night all