General Care Discussion :: Teeth? Weirdness?

[Starchick]

Just talked to Michael on the phone, and he tells me that Hercules has a 'tooth' growing from his lower jaw. I'm assuming he means something like the little fangs that they usually have on the top, but I can't imagine why or how something like that would appear on the bottom. I haven't seen him in a week, and I won't be able to see him until Saturday, plus Michael doesn't even have a camera so I can't see what he's talking about. So it's really more a head scratcher than a question, but if anyone has heard of such a thing or knows what might be going on, please let me know!

[SpotsMama]

I've never heard of such a thing.

[jenaero]

don't freak out until you see it. We all know it's not a tooth..lol. Just wait, and if you don't know what it is, take a pic and maybe we can help

[marisa]

They don't have fangs, only an egg tooth when they hatch and which they lose fairly quickly.

A pic isn't possible? How long has it been since it was first noticed? Could it be a bit of food/cuttlebone that's somehow stuck? Could the jaw have been injured from biting on something hard?

[Starchick]

I can send my camera with Michael tomorrow and have him upload it. He says he's only noticed it in the last day or so. He doesn't think it's anything stuck there, and I suppose he could have bitten on something, he has cuttlebone and tank decorations. But I haven't seen it myself so I'm only going on what he says. I'll try to get Michael to take a pic tomorrow.

The fang things, I don't know what else to call them, but you can see them in this pic: This is Hercules, Napoleon's are even pointier.

[Tenodera]

LOL!

maybe they're turning into vampires

[Starchick]

I just did some image searches, and all the face pics of painted turtles I could find also had the little fang things, but the red ear sliders didn't. Still don't know what they are but it's weird that I never noticed the difference.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Those fangs are great!

[SpotsMama]

Kind of gives a whole new perspective on ol' Herc!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

IMO hercules should be called Dracula for now on

[marisa]

Really wierd...I've got 4 Eastern Painteds and none of them have anything like that. To my knowledge, Western Painteds don't have this either. If both of them have it and it's not from biting anything hard, a genetic abnormality? Are they from the same clutch do you know?

[the_orphaned]

Whoa. Maybe he is nibbling on something hard thats how he developed his "fangs". Are there any hard materials there inside his home?

[Twoster]

DRAcules!..from the south side of transylvania

[Starchick]

Really wierd...I've got 4 Eastern Painteds and none of them have anything like that. To my knowledge, Western Painteds don't have this either. If both of them have it and it's not from biting anything hard, a genetic abnormality? Are they from the same clutch do you know?

I unfortunately don't know, I'm at least their third owner, but it's definitely possible. I'm fairly certain that at least in the case of the top fangs that they both have, it's not caused by them biting on things, because they both had fang things when they came to us, and they had nothing in their tanks other than a basking rock. Maybe some kind of deformity from the lack of something to chew on? I know they never had cuttlebone with their last owner. With Hercules, it's still possible that the thing on his lower jaw could have been caused by biting something, I just still haven't seen it yet.

Here are some pics of Napoleon's 'fangs', which are pretty hardcore compared to Hercules'.

[DavidY]

Those fangs are quite pronounced but for some reason I wasn't surprised to see them on your turtle. I think I've seen them before, perhaps on the local Eastern Painted Turtles that I've found around here before? Hmmm, not sure.

He's got a beautiful face though!