Long nails in the animal kingdom can be quite helpful and even necessary at times, but long nails can also be a hindrance at times, if you think your turtle’s nails are too long then you’d understandably start to worry
This article looks into what to do if your turtle’s nails are too long
Table of Contents
My turtle nails are too long:
Long nails can help the turtle dig but too long nails can cause difficulties in your pet’s everyday life, difficulties like issues with movement, injury to the turtle or its tankmates, and even damage to the environment
Here is what you need to know about turtles and their long nails
How to tell that your pet’s nails are too long:
You may not be too sure, and you may wonder whether your turtle’s nails are too long, here are signs that your turtle’s nails are, in fact, too long:
- Difficulty moving
- Scratches developing on the animal’s shell or body
- Scratches developing on other turtle’s shell or body
- Nails that curl in and cause pain
- The nails are pointing in different directions
- Difficulty walking, climbing, running and swimming
Why they have overgrown?
The nails of turtles in the wild are usually kept at a manageable length because of wear and tear caused by foraging, climbing, digging, scraping on surfaces, and using the nails in general
If the environment that your pet is in does not have any abrasive and rough surfaces in it then the animal’s nails can become overgrown
In addition, because turtles in captivity get an abundance of food their nails also grow quite fast and strong and this can cause the nails to overgrow.
Some turtles however have long nails on purpose, the red-eared slider males for example grow their nails long to tickle the female so trimming the nails of these nails is not necessary
What to do:
You’d only need to trim your turtle’s nails about twice a year and some turtle owners trim their turtle’s nails once a year.
You can choose to trim the animal’s nails yourself or you could choose to have a vet do this. If you choose to trim your pet’s nails yourself make sure to avoid trimming the quick of the nail.
The quick of the nail is the live part of the nail, it is pink or dark. You can easily see the quick if you hold the animal’s hand up to a light
You can use a nail clipper, that is proportionate to the size of the turtle, to trim the animal’s nails. When trimming clip the animal nails as close as you can but avoid the quick
Tip: If your pet is squirming as you hold it then wrap the animal up in a towel
Tip: If you do cut the animal’s quick use cornstarch to reduce the bleeding on the nails. You can also add some antibacterial ointment to the area
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: My Turtle Got Bit By A Dog, My Turtle Has A Cut On Its Leg, Can Turtles Live In A Fish Tank, My Turtle Ate My Fish, My Turtle Is Getting Too Big, Do Turtle Tails Grow Back?, My Turtle Bites My Other Turtle, My Turtle Can’t Swim, My Turtle Doesn’t Swim
