# My tortoise is eating stones/bark/sticks/pine cones



## TortoiseLuv0131 (Jun 9, 2013)

Hi,
My RT goes outside to roam free (under my supervision) for 30 minutes every day. A few months (maybe 4?) ago, she started seeking out and trying to eat small white stones. I tried to take as many as I could from her mouth, but she still succeeded in eating a few.
Now, she doesn't try to eat stones, but lately she's been eating pieces of bark, small sticks, and bits of pine cone. I'm wondering if I'm not giving her enough nutrients in her diet? She eats ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Diet with some fresh supermarket greens (usually a mix of baby romaine, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, tango lettuce, arugula, and other "Spring Mix" greens), and three times a week she gets a piece of an Opuntia Cactus pad. She has a cuttlefish bone stick available to her in her cage at all times, and she nibbles at it occasionally but not voraciously. I provide her with a pretty big pool of dechlorinated water all the time.
For the books, she is pooping/peeing just fine, with nice deposits of uric acid once or twice a week.
Thank you so much for your help!
TortoiseLuv0131


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 9, 2013)

It's thought that turtles crave stones when they're not getting enough minerals in their diet, especially calcium. Your tortoise nibbles on cuttlebone, which is great, but you might also want to sprinkle some calcium powder directly onto your tortoise's food 2-3x per week. Since your tortoise lives indoors, it's probably a good idea to use a supplement that includes vitamin D3 for calcium metabolism. You can add other vitamins, too, if you wish.

As for the other items, it could just be that your tortoise is young and exploring new things, some of which it will eventually learn not to like. Another possibility is that it just naturally wants to gnaw on things to trim its beak. A third possibility is that it wants the fiber in the wood, although the food you're offering seems to have a good amount of fiber for a Russian. Finally, a fourth possibility is that she might be craving the fungi growing on those pieces of wood. My Russians, especially the female, seems to like eating dry fallen leaves. I don't now if it's the fiber or the growth on them, but for some reason she just likes to eat them every now and then. I let her do so, and no harm has come from it.


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## TortoiseLuv0131 (Jun 9, 2013)

GeoTerraTestudo said:


> It's thought that turtles crave stones when they're not getting enough minerals in their diet, especially calcium. Your tortoise nibbles on cuttlebone, which is great, but you might also want to sprinkle some calcium powder directly onto your tortoise's food 2-3x per week. Since your tortoise lives indoors, it's probably a good idea to use a supplement that includes vitamin D3 for calcium metabolism. You can add other vitamins, too, if you wish.
> 
> As for the other items, it could just be that your tortoise is young and exploring new things, some of which it will eventually learn not to like. Another possibility is that it just naturally wants to gnaw on things to trim its beak. A third possibility is that it wants the fiber in the wood, although the food you're offering seems to have a good amount of fiber for a Russian. Finally, a fourth possibility is that she might be craving the fungi growing on those pieces of wood. My Russians, especially the female, seems to like eating dry fallen leaves. I don't now if it's the fiber or the growth on them, but for some reason she just likes to eat them every now and then. I let her do so, and no harm has come from it.



Thank you so much!
I think I will get a mineral/vitamin supplement for Myrtle; I've been researching this and it seems like a good idea. Do you have a favorite brand? I can't seem to find one on PetSmart, which is where I get most of my supplies.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 9, 2013)

TortoiseLuv0131 said:


> Thank you so much!
> I think I will get a mineral/vitamin supplement for Myrtle; I've been researching this and it seems like a good idea. Do you have a favorite brand? I can't seem to find one on PetSmart, which is where I get most of my supplies.



If PetSmart is not carrying calcium + vitamin D3 supplement, then PetCo, smaller chains, and independent specialty pet stores will, not to mention online. I have used both Rep-Cal and ZooMed Repti-Calcium, and they are both good. Whatever you get, just make sure that the ratio of calcium to phosphorus is high. Get at least 2:1 or higher, and better still, get powder with no phosphorus in it at all (there is plenty of phosphorus in food).


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## mainey34 (Jun 9, 2013)

You may want to try miner-all it is good also. You can find it on line.


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## theelectraco (Jun 9, 2013)

TortoiseLuv0131 said:


> GeoTerraTestudo said:
> 
> 
> > It's thought that turtles crave stones when they're not getting enough minerals in their diet, especially calcium. Your tortoise nibbles on cuttlebone, which is great, but you might also want to sprinkle some calcium powder directly onto your tortoise's food 2-3x per week. Since your tortoise lives indoors, it's probably a good idea to use a supplement that includes vitamin D3 for calcium metabolism. You can add other vitamins, too, if you wish.
> ...



Petsmart carries multiple calcium +d3. One by flukers, one by Exo terra, and one other one. I don't think they have any without d3 tho


0.1.0 Dachshund
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0.0.1 Crested Gecko


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## TortoiseLuv0131 (Jun 10, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your reponses.
I'm sorry, I was sorting the vitamins wrong on PetSmart and so didn't see the vitamins/calcium. I'm thinking of doing a mix of Rep-Cal (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754048&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No) and Herpivite (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754047&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No). Does this sound like a good idea? Thanks again for your help!


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## peasinapod (Jun 10, 2013)

I have heard of tortoises with parasites eating small stones and the like. When was the last time she was checked for them?


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 10, 2013)

TortoiseLuv0131 said:


> Thanks everyone for your reponses.
> I'm sorry, I was sorting the vitamins wrong on PetSmart and so didn't see the vitamins/calcium. I'm thinking of doing a mix of Rep-Cal (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754048&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No) and Herpivite (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754047&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No). Does this sound like a good idea? Thanks again for your help!



Yep, you can do regular Rep-Cal for their calcium + vitamin D3, and add Rep-Cal Herptivite for additional vitamins and minerals. That's a good choice. Just remember to only offer it a couple time per week.


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## TortoiseLuv0131 (Jun 10, 2013)

peasinapod said:


> I have heard of tortoises with parasites eating small stones and the like. When was the last time she was checked for them?



That's a good point. The last time she ate a stone was about 4-7 months ago, and we had her checked for parasites a few weeks later. She DID have an infestation, so she was given medicine and was fine. She stopped eating stones after that, and I had her given an anti-parasite med about 1 month ago, as recommended by our vet. (She wasn't checked then, but this was kind of like a flea & tick medicine for dogs; just keeps her from getting them.)
Thanks for bringing that up, I hadn't thought of it being related to parasites.




GeoTerraTestudo said:


> TortoiseLuv0131 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks everyone for your reponses.
> ...



All right, thanks so much! I'll pick it up sometime this week.


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## samsmom (Jun 10, 2013)

When I first began taking my tortoise outside he would find and eat bird poop, yuk! We have a white stone fence around his enclosure and there were small pieces of stone on the ground. After several outside trips I started to notice that whenever he saw those stone chips he would literally run over and try to eat them. I assumed he thought it was bird poop but he would gobble up the stones before I could get them away from him. Now I check the enclousre for tiny stone pieces and remove them before letting him roam around.

FYI: Samson has a very secure chain link dog run inside the stone fence where he spends most of his days. He only gets supervised visits outside the dog run. Also we only use the dog run for Samson, not our dogs!


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