Urgent Care :: Broken nail.

[NickV]

This morning I noticed my turtles middle nail was broken off or maybe even impacted and turning brown. No blood and not even sure how it happened. Is it infected? What should I do?

[steve]

Hi Nick, can you post a picture of the nail? How many turtles do you have?

[NickV]

https://imgur.com/gallery/M8I0jMo
Just the one turtle. Around 20 years old. Only thing they could of broke it on was a rock, the filter, or the tank itself.

[steve]

It doesn't look like the nail bed is damaged, so it should grow back. If you take a close look, is it soft and sensitive to him? For what it's worth, my male RES has a habit of biting his claws... not sure if something similar happened here.

[NickV]

I can't really tell if it's hurting him. Seems like his normal self. This morning he was begging for food by swimming up to the glass like he always does and his claw was scraping against the glass like nothing was wrong.

[steve]

It's probably fine but you'll want to keep a close eye on it. I'd have a list of vets you can go to if necessary.