Urgent Care :: RES mouth (Beak) broken/chipped

[prdmommyof3]

Oh, he's a pig! He's not painful at all, and he is still eating his pellets and chomping on the zucchini I put in this morning.

[marisa]

Their beaks don't usually grow that long. Cuttlebone and other firm foods help keep them trimmed. Please don't try to trim it or file it yourself---have a herp vet look at and determine what should be done.

[prdmommyof3]

I don;t have the guts to try it myself! I think I'll get him some cuttle bone and see if that helps.

I'll let you know what the vet says Monday

[marisa]

It might be good to limit the harder foods until you have him seen by the vet.

[prdmommyof3]

Ok, so here's what the vet said about Charlie & Lola:

She said that overall they look very healthy; hard shell, clear eyes, well hydrated, no parasites. She said that their beaks were "normal" and a tiny tiny bit grown, but not worth stressing them out to file down. (Lola's anyway)

She did take Charlie in the back and clipped/filed away the sharp areas of his broken beak. She said that it may or may not grow back, since he broke it so close to his mouth (Guess they're 2 seperate peices). She said that he doesn't need to be limited from any foods, but to watch him with the cuttle bone (which he hasn't touched since I put it in there).

She said their living arrangements are perfect (space, heater filter, UVB light, dock, etc) and so is their health, and said that their beaks act like a mouth guard in a sense because it protects their actual mouth and that it's like our nails.

So, all in all, Charlie is OK and hopefully he'll regrow what broke.

Thanks to everyone for making me feel at ease when this happened! What a great forum!

[prdmommyof3]

Oh, forgot to mention...
Since I first visited this forum and did a little more research, I bought a heater and thermometer...constantally reads 78°.

Thanks for the info!

[SpotsMama]

All in all a very good report. Did the vet have any idea why or how Charlie's beak broke? I've seen my guy bite down pretty hard on things like rocks and his has never broken.

[prdmommyof3]

She agreed that it may have broken on the tank decoration. Honestly, that's the ONLY thing he could have done....slid off the dock and hit his mouth on the plastic skull.

Needless to say, that decoration is not going back in!