Raising a tortoise can be a fun and challenging experience, challenging in that the reptile may do things that seem odd to you and that you’d need to investigate.
A tortoise that bites its own leg will need to be investigated. This article looks into why these animals do this
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Why does my tortoise bite his leg?
There are a lot of things that you’d need to wonder about when raising a tortoise, are they comfortable, are they hungry, and why the reptiles bite their own leg, this article looks into why your tortoise may do this.
Skin shedding:
Adult tortoises don’t have the same skin that they had when they were young. These animals will shed their skin a number of times as they age.
Your reptile may be shedding skin at its feet and the animal may be trying to bite off some of the skin at its feet.
A tortoise shedding its skin is quite normal behavior. This shedding happens as the animal grows in size.
Shedding, or skin flaking, can also happen if your pet is dehydrated.
If small white patches come off of your pet’s skin then the tortoise is simply shedding its skin.
If the animal’s skin comes off as one large yellow or green sheet then this means that your pet is dehydrated.
What to do:
Do not try to remove the skin as this can be painful for your pet, simply let the animal be.
If your pet is shedding as normal don’t try to remove the flakes.
Just make sure that you provide an environment that mimics their natural environment as much as possible.
Also, make sure that they eat a varied diet, and have access to clean water
If your pet is dehydrated you can give it water-rich foods like cucumber, cactus, and lettuce. You can also mist your tortoise with water or bathe it.
Eyesight issues:
Another of the reasons why your tortoise may be biting its legs may be that it is both hungry and has an eyesight problem.
While this is not so common, it can sometimes happen. A blind tortoise may bite its front or back legs.
What to do:
Being blind can stop the tortoise from doing normal everyday things like eating and drinking properly.
The little reptile can still live its life, but it would still need some help.
Help your pet by moving your tortoise’s food close to it and giving the animal a smaller and separate container.
Blind tortoises will not move as much, they don’t know where they are going and are thus scared to move around too much.
Help your pet by keeping the animal’s food close to it, and in the same place, so your pet knows where to find food.
Keeping strong-smelling food in your pet’s container will also be helpful. The reptile will use its other senses, its sense of smell, to find the food.
Feed the reptile food by hand if it is struggling to find its food.
Doing this will get your pet to stop chewing at its feet.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other tortoise/turtle related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Sulcata Tortoise Leg Problems, Why Is My Tortoise Limping?, Tortoise Back Legs Stretched Out, Can Tortoises Break Their Legs?, Tortoise Having Trouble Walking, Tortoise Not Using One Leg, Why Do Turtles Bite Their Feet?, Why Is My Turtle’s Back Leg Swollen?, Why Does My Turtle Sleep Standing Up?