Help this turtle tiptoe through the tulips

March 30, 2006 4:27 PM

How do you trim a pet turtle's toenails?

I am asking this question on behalf of a friend.

His pet turtle's toenails are getting rather long and need to be trimmed. Is this something that he can do himself or should he have it done by a vet or??

He lives in Poulsbo, Washington and works in Seattle, so referrals are welcome if anyone knows of a place experienced in reptile care who can trim the critter's nails.

He doesn't know what species of turtle it is.

posted by luneray to Pets & Animals (5 answers total)

I don't have any personal experience with this, but I once had a friend who had a turtle and there was this special artificial "rock" in its tank which it loved to scratch both its toenails and beak on. This, I am assuming, kept them trimmed. A special reptile store, or maybe even a Petsmart might have this.
posted by meerkatty at 4:31 PM on March 30, 2006

I used to a be a zoo keeper, and I took care of turtles and tortoises. You can clip a turtle's nails - but I would go to a vet first and have them teach you how this is done. It is fairly easy, but it doesn't hurt learning from a pro for the first go around. As for the beak - it should be dremeled or filed with a nail file. Again, have a vet show your friend how this is done first. Good Luck!
posted by eggerspretty at 4:50 PM on March 30, 2006

Is it a land turtle or water turtle? It is normal for the males of some species of water turtles to have very long front claws. They use them to entice the females to mate. Google came up with this link for trimming turtle claws. Although I second eggerspretty, and recommend you get a vet to help your friend the first time.
posted by squink at 5:55 PM on March 30, 2006

If he doesn't know what species of turtle he has, why does he know that they need to be trimmed?
posted by popechunk at 7:23 PM on March 30, 2006

Unless there is a specific reason for it, I would recommend against trimming the turtle's claws. They naturally grow long, at least for the males.
posted by lester at 12:21 PM on March 31, 2006