# How do you feed cuttlebones to baby sulcatas?



## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

Good day,

We have two 5-month old sulcatas. We're planning to feed them cuttlebones for calcium. How should cuttlebones be fed to baby sulcatas?

Do we leave the whole thing there? Chop it down to bit sizes? Scrape it and create 'calcium powders'?

Thanks,
Franz See


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## Jabuticaba (Nov 2, 2014)

Hello. I'd try scraping the cuttle bone over a wet pile of food. The water will help the calcium powder stick to the greens.


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## Maro2Bear (Nov 2, 2014)

I have found that easiest thing is to take your cuttlebone and break it into 4 or so pieces of equal size. Then just take one of the pieces and crumble it up, scattering the bits about. Our sully readily explores and nibbles on these bits. Once they nibble on a few smaller bits, they easily nibble on larger pieces as well. U can also scrape some over their food as noted in previous posts above.


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## Yellow Turtle01 (Nov 2, 2014)

I feed my cuttlebones straight up, usually in halves. Hehehe, I just set a few around the yard for my sulcata to find... she usually eats them all. The turtles always eat theirs, and if my russians feeling picky I soak it, and then rub some of on the greens. Once it dries it sticks like crazy


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## Tom (Nov 2, 2014)

Just toss the whole thing, or a piece of it, in there, and thats it. Sometimes they will ignore it for months and then suddenly decide to start munching on it.


Are they living together? If so, you ought to separate them sometime soon. They should not live in pairs.


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## chaseswife (Nov 2, 2014)

I just put mine in whole. Shrimp ignored it for almost a month, now he nibbles at least a little bit on it everyday. More when he is having a big growth week.


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

Jabuticaba said:


> Hello. I'd try scraping the cuttle bone over a wet pile of food. The water will help the calcium powder stick to the greens.



Cool! How do I know then if im over feeding them with calcium?  or is it not possible using that approach?  thanks!


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

Maro2Bear said:


> I have found that easiest thing is to take your cuttlebone and break it into 4 or so pieces of equal size. Then just take one of the pieces and crumble it up, scattering the bits about. Our sully readily explores and nibbles on these bits. Once they nibble on a few smaller bits, they easily nibble on larger pieces as well. U can also scrape some over their food as noted in previous posts above.



Great hack!  so you're style is to introduce them via the smaller pieces and let them work their way up to the bigger pieces?


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

Tom said:


> Just toss the whole thing, or a piece of it, in there, and thats it. Sometimes they will ignore it for months and then suddenly decide to start munching on it.
> 
> 
> Are they living together? If so, you ought to separate them sometime soon. They should not live in pairs.





chaseswife said:


> I just put mine in whole. Shrimp ignored it for almost a month, now he nibbles at least a little bit on it everyday. More when he is having a big growth week.



@Tom @chaseswife would a three inch sulcata be able to eat cuttlebones on their own?  the reason i ask is because when they graze, they just pick the small grasses (i.e. Clovers or grasses of same size). They're still having a hard time cutting off the leaves of the bigger grasses (small bermuda or carabao grass). Thanks!


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## wellington (Nov 2, 2014)

I agree with Tom. I would break it in half, and stick it in there. You will be able to tell if they are eating on it, you'll see the chew marks. If after awhile they haven't touched it, then if you want, scrape it onto their food about 2-3 times a week. Keep in mind, too much can be as bad as too little.


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## chaseswife (Nov 2, 2014)

My sulcata is only 2.75 inches. This is his cuttlebone. You can see the one end has been nibbled on a lot, this one has been in the habitat for about 2 weeks I think. When we first got him it took almost a whole month for him to pay any attention to it.


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

wellington said:


> I agree with Tom. I would break it in half, and stick it in there. You will be able to tell if they are eating on it, you'll see the chew marks. If after awhile they haven't touched it, then if you want, scrape it onto their food about 2-3 times a week. Keep in mind, too much can be as bad as too little.



Great. Thanks!


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

chaseswife said:


> My sulcata is only 2.75 inches. This is his cuttlebone. You can see the one end has been nibbled on a lot, this one has been in the habitat for about 2 weeks I think. When we first got him it took almost a whole month for him to pay any attention to it.
> View attachment 102604



Thanks for the example !  I may be prematurely-babying my torts  hehe.. i think i should trust them more  hehe ..thanks!


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## franz_see (Nov 2, 2014)

Sorry everyone for going off-topic on my own thread, but I'm just curious about this comment 



Tom said:


> Are they living together? If so, you ought to separate them sometime soon. They should not live in pairs.



Hi @Tom, they're currently 5 months old and are living together, and so far, they seem to be doing fine. But how soon should I separate them and what problem should i look out for while living together? Thanks!


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## Tom (Nov 3, 2014)

franz_see said:


> Sorry everyone for going off-topic on my own thread, but I'm just curious about this comment
> 
> 
> 
> Hi @Tom, they're currently 5 months old and are living together, and so far, they seem to be doing fine. But how soon should I separate them and what problem should i look out for while living together? Thanks!



Typically one grows much faster in this scenario. It is very unnatural and at the very least uncomfortable for them to live as a pair. In the wild they would not do this. One would leave the area and find his own place.
Here is a thread explaining it all in more detail: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/

The problem to look for is two tortoise living in the same enclosure. Sometimes there will be obvious overt hostility like pushing or biting in some species, but even without any of that, just the presence of the other one is very stressful. Chonically stressful.


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## franz_see (Nov 4, 2014)

Tom said:


> Typically one grows much faster in this scenario. It is very unnatural and at the very least uncomfortable for them to live as a pair. In the wild they would not do this. One would leave the area and find his own place.
> Here is a thread explaining it all in more detail: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/
> 
> The problem to look for is two tortoise living in the same enclosure. Sometimes there will be obvious overt hostility like pushing or biting in some species, but even without any of that, just the presence of the other one is very stressful. Chonically stressful.



Understood. We'll work on separating them soon! Thanks!


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