cuttlebone

[Yvonne G]

I learned something quite by accident. I took in an aggressive, deformed box turtle and put him into a temp enclosure on my carport. I didn't have time to set the enclosure up properly, just a light and substrate. When it came time to feed him, I didn't have ready access to a feeding tile, so I grabbed a cuttlebone and using it soft-side up, placed the turtle's food on the cuttlebone. He ate the food that day and the next, then by the third day, I guess he had gotten used to the smell of the cuttlebone, and he even ate a bit of it along with the food.

 

[ColorfulTortoise]

That's a pretty neat story. Maybe I should try doing that with Shorty so I can get some calcium into him

 

[dmmj]

I wonder if the smell might be less in the cuttlebone form, then when it is sprinkled on it.

 

[wellington]

Possibly absorbed some of the food smell. So now it smelled gooood

 

[N2TORTS]

Y'vonne your right ... they must smell that stuff unlike we do . All of my RF's and Cherries sniff that stuff out whenever new chunks are placed around the yard. It's funny to see the deep grooves left behind in the bone after a day of munch'n. I find it quiet useful for "beak" control as it does act like a natural grinding stone also promoting beak and jaw exercise.
For those who might wonder...............
A cuttlebone is not actually a bone, but rather the internal shell of the Cuttlefish, a small, squid-like cephalopod. In the Cuttlefish, the cuttlebone is filled with gasses and helps control the fish's buoyancy in the water. Once harvested the " bone" is very high in calcium make up. Thus providing extra intake of the mineral and also other uses as mentioned above.

JD~