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you got questions we've got answers just
ask any hey what's going on everyone
Kevin here and I'm hanging out today
with the little Greek chorus that I have
and it's time for another ask am cannon
question today's question comes from
Margo Maloney one of our patreon
supporters really appreciate the patron
support support it helps us continue to
make the videos and to continue to bring
you some fun reptile adventures and
education and today's question from
Margo it happens to do with how do we
know if a tortoises beak is too long or
its nails are too long and what can you
do to identify it and also what can you
do to actually trim it down now first
things first folks you want to just kind
of look at the tortoise and check its
nails you can see the nails there look
pretty good they look healthy they're
not too long the back nails look good as
well you don't want them to start
curling underneath you don't want them
to to impede the tortoise from being
able to put its foot completely on the
ground remember these tortoises have
elephantine hind legs and you want their
feet to sit like columns so you really
want their whole foot pad to be on the
ground if the toenails get too long it
won't be able to put its entire foot
down and as far as the front these look
pretty healthy they get worn down
naturally over time you want to make
sure you have enough substrate they can
dig in these tortoises live with my
Rhino iguana is I'll flip it around
after the video and I'll show you how
they're living but one thing I wanted
you to notice is look at the beak on
this guy it's starting to get a little
bit too long now you can take the your
animal to a vet and they can trim the
beak for you it's not a difficult
process I'm actually going to try and do
it here it's a little bit more difficult
when you're filming by yourself but I do
have a tool that I use a little dremel
tool and I learned this from my friend
Greg Fleming who passed away sadly a few
years back he was one of Disney World's
vets Animal Kingdom vet and a reptile
and tortoise nerd learned so much from
him and he taught me how to trim
the beaks of the tortoises on my own
this tortoise is pretty gregarious it's
a male and this Greek tortoise is very
easy because he's sticking his head out
now it's gonna be more difficult you may
need a vet or another person to help you
when getting them to have them stick
their heads out because as you can
imagine when I start up the little
dremel tool right here he's probably
gonna shy away so I'm gonna try and do
this video as best I can guys it's just
me out here Tom's not around Kate's not
around it's all me so I'm gonna try and
do the best I can to Dremel this guy
safely and to keep the video informative
and educated educated educated I need an
education on how to speak I'll keep the
information flowing and try and educate
everyone on how to do this but I will
say this as a disclaimer guys if you
don't feel comfortable trimming your
tortoises nails bringing them to a vet I
am NOT a vet I learned this from a vet
and I have many many years of working
with these animals so always go see a
vet if you are uncomfortable with a
procedure I wouldn't just start
experimenting on your animals this is
something I've done many times I'm going
to show you how I do it now in order to
do this we're gonna move you guys we're
gonna come down a little bit lower and I
want to be able to kind of keep my hands
in view so the first thing I want to do
is I'm going to just tilt the tortoise
forward they tend to stick out their
heads and this is gonna look mean but
this is a necessary thing I keep their
head you see I'm keeping his head from
going into the shell by gently holding
it now I'm starting up the dremel so I
really I'm gonna turn this down
they don't turn this down a little bit
all right can you guys hear me good so I
turned it down a little bit and we're
just gonna do short bursts I gotta pay
attention guys
here we go short little bursts just
short bursts because what happens is you
can heat the beak up from friction and
you don't want to heat this guy's beak
up too much because it would be
uncomfortable and hurt so I just do
short little bits and we trim it down
get right underneath I may have to turn
it up a little bit here we go but you
see how I'm doing these short bursts
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
there you go nice and short and we're
just we're just taking it at the edge
all right you see that we're just taking
the edge off and again guys the problem
ah the problem with leaving a beak too
long is that the tortoise won't be able
to open his mouth properly in order to
eat so that's why we're doing this we're
trimming it down just a little bit
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
I don't know if you guys can see I'm
hoping you guys can see y'all uh and
this tortoise is not having a problem at
all hasn't gone into his shell see how
we brought that down looking pretty good
[Applause]
all right I think I like that I think I
like the way that looks guys what do you
say we brought down the beak a little
bit and so now it's a more useful B key
can open up more now guys also when
you're doing this again I mentioned it I
don't know if it was too loud on the
video but um what happens is you see
that looks much more normal it's not
sticking out as far he can open his
mouth
I could probably stand to trim it down a
little bit more just to make sure that
it's within the parameters of a normal
beak you don't want to be to come out
below the bottom jaw okay that's how you
know it's gotten too long you could see
that he opens his mouth the beak is
still a little bit long and I might trim
a little bit more here once I have both
hands-free but I just wanted to give you
an idea of how you would trim the
tortoises beak
again do not recommend you do this if
you are not supervised by a vet I was
supervised by my friend Greg Fleming who
was a vet and he was a great vet and he
taught me how to do this this is not
something that I would just start - mmm
excuse me Dremel away at your tortoise
so you got to know what you're doing
but I wanted to show you if you did
bring it to a vet this is what they
would do they general the beat-down as
you see the tortoise is moving around no
worries no pain if you went too far up
then you would hit nerves you'd hit
blood same thing with their nails you
never want to trim them too close just
take the little tips off never go too
close if you do accidentally snip too
close they'll bleed a little bit you
could put a little bit of antibiotic
ointment on there but it shouldn't be
any kind of catastrophe but there he is
a little Greek tortoise and let's put
him back excuse me or rather I'm gonna
show you his little house he's gonna go
up there for a moment and then don't
walk off on the roof he's off the roof I
don't want too much take off too quickly
before I can get to him here's their
house they live in here there's another
Greek tortoise they kind of live in here
with the Rhino iguanas they got Sun over
there
they eat off the tray they also have a
rock in their flat rock that they grind
their mouths on but every once in a
while these guys are gonna get long
beaks and that's how you take care of
them all right so we've done it oh we
got this little guy all situated I hope
this was an informative video thanks so
much for watching and being a patreon
supporter keep those questions coming
everybody we want to know we want to
know what you're up to
don't forget to also hit subscribe on
the channel and well gotchas don't
forget to also subscribe to the camp
cannon army where we can see just what
you guys are up to and how you keep your
animals upload your own videos of your
habitats and your animals and we can all
educate each other so there you have it
a little dental work for your tortoise
and we're trimming their rampa thickest
rampa theca is a fancy word alright now
you've learned something I'll see you
guys later I can continue to gently take
off a little bit more so this little
gentleman can open his mouth without any
hindrance alright everyone thanks so
much hit like subscribe and I will see
you again on another
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