# My Tortoises Wont Eat Cuttle bone?!?!?



## alben909 (Jul 14, 2012)

I bought my tortoises 2 cuttle bones a piece. The only problem is, they wont eat them. They look at it and walk away. Is getting cuttle bones a waste of money, is there any particular way they like it?


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## Eweezyfosheezy (Jul 14, 2012)

Your adult sulcatas dont want it??? My sulcatas chew it down like its candy lol.


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## Jacqui (Jul 14, 2012)

Most likely it means your sulcata are getting enough calcium from other sources. With cuttlebones some tortoises seem to think they are candy, yet other tortoises seem to ignore them forever, then one day it's like they inhale the entire piece. Some seem to like them all new and shiny white, while others want the dirty old ones. I look at this way, cuttlebones are cheap and so easy to just have laying around in the enclosure, why not have them? That way, when and if your tortoise decides it wants or needs it, the cuttlebone is there and waiting.


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## badkitty (Jul 14, 2012)

For my torts I break it in half and rub them together so it's a powder and put it on their food.


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## alben909 (Jul 14, 2012)

Ya my sulcatas don't want it. My russain doesn't either.. I do put calcium supplement on their food. I use Sticky Tongue Farms supplement. So it means they don't need the calcium


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## RonHays (Jul 14, 2012)

I only give it to them in the winter time. Mine are outside during spring, summer, and most of the fall. They get their calcium from the natural sun and the food that they eat.


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## alben909 (Jul 14, 2012)

Maybe that's why my sulcatas don't LOVE the cuttle bone. They are outside almost all year. Still, I don't know why my russain doesn't like it


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## Eweezyfosheezy (Jul 14, 2012)

Maybe they just havent gotten the taste of it. My adults stay outside throughout the year and will never turn it down.


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## alben909 (Jul 14, 2012)

I don't know? I grounded up one of them and put it on some dandilions. They ate it but when I offered more cuttle bone, they turned it down again


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## Tom (Jul 14, 2012)

My experience is identical to Jacquies. Many of my tortoises just ignore them entirely for months on end. Every once in a while, one will just chow down on one for a while after walking by it and ignoring it for months. I find that if they are getting enough elsewhere, they are less likely to want to eat cuttlebone. I agree that's it's cheap and does no harm, so I leave it in with mine even though they usually ignore it.


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## CLMoss (Jul 14, 2012)

My female SL Star love her cuttle bone; however, my male walk right by it. I have never seen him touch it. Just leave it there, it can't hurt.


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## mary t (Jul 14, 2012)

When I first got Willie, he never touched it then after a month outside he went through a half dozen in a few weeks.. The last one I gave him has been hanging out in his enclosure for a while now, not touched but i Figured when he wants it it's there!


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## Blastoise (Jul 15, 2012)

I've had a russian for six months, hasn't touched the cuttlebone


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## California Mieke (Jul 15, 2012)

Hi  
Try this out:

Cook some eggshells and peel the skin from the inside ... Then crush the shells in very tiny pieces - 
I lay this in a dish and ready to serve...
They love it ....


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## Sulcataman (Jul 15, 2012)

Try breaking pieces off and sticking them inside squash. If I let them, 2 of mine would eat as many as I give them, my other one won't eat cuttlebones unless I hide them in his food.


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## alben909 (Jul 15, 2012)

Ok thanks guys


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## dmmj (Jul 15, 2012)

I have been offering it for many many years now and no one touches it (CDT, Russian, Sulcata, RF and boxies). But I continue to offer it, at 25 cents a piece I don't consider a waste of money.


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## Laurie (Jul 15, 2012)

I have had some in my adult steppe tortoises enclosure for seven months now, he has not touched it. My two babies do munch on them though, especially tootsie roll, who has had a huge growth spurt. She chews on that thing like there's no tomorrow!


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## alben909 (Jul 15, 2012)

Only 25Â¢ a piece? Wow I got ripped off


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## dmmj (Jul 15, 2012)

Most feed stores should sell them for 25 cents a piece.


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## Eweezyfosheezy (Jul 15, 2012)

How much did you pay for it? Its very cheap stuff.


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## alben909 (Jul 15, 2012)

I payed 1.50 a piece!!!!!!


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## Eweezyfosheezy (Jul 15, 2012)

Woah!!! Thats fricken expensive!!! I'm sure you can find a much cheaper source somewhere else.


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## dmmj (Jul 15, 2012)

I have seen it way higher I was expecting like 3 dollars or something. nice thing about a feed store is it does not come with any type of backing just the cuttle bone.


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## Aretino (Dec 4, 2012)

Jacqui said:


> Most likely it means your sulcata are getting enough calcium from other sources. With cuttlebones some tortoises seem to think they are candy, yet other tortoises seem to ignore them forever, then one day it's like they inhale the entire piece. Some seem to like them all new and shiny white, while others want the dirty old ones. I look at this way, cuttlebones are cheap and so easy to just have laying around in the enclosure, why not have them? That way, when and if your tortoise decides it wants or needs it, the cuttlebone is there and waiting.



I've never seen my small Greek tortie show even passing interest in the piece of cuttlebone in her tortarium. She spent a lot of time on something she discovered during a backyard walk one day, and this turned out to be a shard of very old and weathered animal bone about an inch long. It is probably beef or pork. One side is dense and hard, the other porous. I retrieved this and put it in her environment and weeks later she remains fascinated by it, and works away at it every time she rediscovers it. It is far too hard for her beak to make a dent in it and if she is consuming any of it, it must be minute. Still, she goes happily at it as if it were a choice morsel.

But then, she continues to surprise me. She ate a little of the bark mulch the other day, which I found a little alarming, something she has never done before and hasn't repeated.


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