should i cut my puffers teeth?????

[bbronco]

i have a small puffer, he has not grown in the 2 years that i have had him. his teeth keep geting bigger and bigger. he can not open his mouth at all but he still eats flake food? he sucks it threw the gap.
should i try to fix him or leave him be? ill take a pic tonight!!!

 

[bbronco]

here is a pic of him 2 years ago.
here is a pic of him last night.

 

[meow]

NO!
in the wild, puffers eat crustaceans with hard shells, and this helps keep their teeth dulled down.
give him strictly plant snails to eat for a while, this will dull his teeth down. after that, be sure to give him some every one in a while to keep them short.

 

[bbronco]

there is no way he could eat any thing that he can't suck threw his teeth. he can't open his mouth!!!!!! this top teeth go below his bottom jaw. there is snails in the tank lots of stuff for him to grind his teeth down on but i don't think he can do it on his own now????

 

[meow]

Aw that sucks. I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you. I dunno if you could cut his teeth, i would think that would be very painful for him.

 

[bbronco]

it has been talked about on here before, thats where i got the idea.
he has not grown much at all sence i got it 2 years ago. it trys to open it's mouth but can't it is very sad watching him trying to eat shrimp or any thing big. the only thing he can get is flake food!!!!

 

[birdy]

you pretty much have to find a vet or a very experienced puffer owner who has done it before, They can starve to death from overgrown beak, If you do get them cut you need to feed your puffer things to eat that have shells or hard skeletons so that it wears their teeth down naturally.

 

[leopard_babe]

I don't know if this will work,
If you gave your puffer something to eat like cockel (sp?), could it bite into it, and break, or file its teeth down? Cockel looks like a miniature clam. A puffer can bite into it, and chip its teeth, or file them down. However it sounds like your puffer might not be able to do that. Just a thought. Keep us posted on your puffer.

 

[innsmouth]

Mine bites at the LR occasionally and his teeth never seem to grow much. I feed him soft food almost exclusivley too. Is there anything like that in your tank? I noticed he is a freshwater puffer right? Maybe try something comparable to LR and he'll do the job himself. Good luck.

 

[bbronco]

it is in my salt water tank!!! not fw!!!!
it is a figure 8 puffer. it is a brackish fish converted to salt.

 

[lionstorm]

i love those pufferfish they are cool. I want to get one of those eventually, a fish that can tolerate saltwater and freshwater is just awesome.
I hope you are able to help him get his teeth down

 

[irenicus]

I did see something awhile ago where a vet used a saw and trimmed his Dogface's Teeth. The teeth were very overgrown. The puffer was under and had a decent life support set up. I don't think you can safely do this without being a professional. I believe the vet was somewhere in tennesee. They had a pretty nice puffer page so it may be on google.

 

[innsmouth]

it is in my salt water tank!!! not fw!!!!
Hey take it easy. Just trying to help out.

 

[bbronco]

Innsmouth i did not mean it like that!!!!! thats just how i type!!!!
i was just leting you know.

 

[innsmouth]

Oh okay, no harm, no foul. When you use all those exclamations it looks like you're yelling. Stupid internet!!!!!!!!

 

[meow]

I found this post on another unmentionable forum, and thought it may be helpful to you.
trimmed my 3 (1") SA puffs teeth & will probably have to do it again. It's hard to get them to eat enough snails. My gsps (5") & fahaka (8") get a regular diet of crablegs, shell-on shrimp, oysters, clams, mussels & crayfish, to keep their teeth nice & short.
I took my SAs & put them (1 at a time) in a large Coolwhip container, with tankwater. I held ther face under the water with a net (my hands were around the net & fish), so they wouldn't suck any air when they puffed. I clipped their teeth with sharp cuticle nippers. They deflated as soon as I let go. You have to clip quickly so as not to shatter their teeth. Be careful not to cut their mouth. A couple of them did crack, but it's still better than dying because they can't eat. I did a loose a puffer to long teeth.

I really hope that helps you. It's worth a try.