Eating rocks

Evy

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Hi, my question is regarding rocks my sully eats them when she goes outside. Is this really bad for her/him.
The reason I know is because sometimes when I bathe her after being outside she poops some rocks with her normal poop.
Is this normal?
Of course this rocks are the size of she can put inside her mouth( beak)

Is she going to eat begged rocks when she gets bigger[FLUSHED FACE]

Thanks for the help
 

FloresGurl

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Evy said:
Hi, my question is regarding rocks my sully eats them when she goes outside. Is this really bad for her/him.
The reason I know is because sometimes when I bathe her after being outside she poops some rocks with her normal poop.
Is this normal?
Of course this rocks are the size of she can put inside her mouth( beak)

Is she going to eat begged rocks when she gets bigger[FLUSHED FACE]

Thanks for the help

This is such a good question, that I would like to know the answer too as well. I seen my sully trying to eat rocks today as well, I walked up to her and said "NO"! and she dropped the rock. it was kinda funny
 

mike taylor

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It's because is missing minerals in its diet . You can buy a product called mineral all to fix this . I think that is the name . If you use your search bar Tom talks about this .
 

Tom

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Calcium sometimes makes it worse.

The supplement is called "MinerAll". Its made by Sticky Tongue Farms. It is a mineral supplement, not just calcium. Often they eat the rocks because they are either lacking certain minerals (sometimes its just calcium), or there is a mineral imbalance (sometimes caused by too much calcium). Either way, it is usually remedied by using this product. I start with a small amount 3-4 times a week for a couple of weeks and then taper down to once or twice a week for maintenance. All you need is a little pinch.

Now in return for the tip, it would be great if you guys (Flores and Evy) would help me with a theory of mine. I typically see this rock eating behavior in tortoises with limited variety in their diet. Usually a few types of grocery store greens. Would you two mind telling us what your tortoises typical diet consists of to help prove of disprove my theory?
 

Evy

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Thank you all for your input.


Tom said:
Calcium sometimes makes it worse.

The supplement is called "MinerAll". Its made by Sticky Tongue Farms. It is a mineral supplement, not just calcium. Often they eat the rocks because they are either lacking certain minerals (sometimes its just calcium), or there is a mineral imbalance (sometimes caused by too much calcium). Either way, it is usually remedied by using this product. I start with a small amount 3-4 times a week for a couple of weeks and then taper down to once or twice a week for maintenance. All you need is a little pinch.

Now in return for the tip, it would be great if you guys (Flores and Evy) would help me with a theory of mine. I typically see this rock eating behavior in tortoises with limited variety in their diet. Usually a few types of grocery store greens. Would you two mind telling us what your tortoises typical diet consists of to help prove of disprove my theory?

Tom, you mentioned the MinerAll before and I purchased it right away.
She has the calcium bone, a greens/ calcium block, minerAll, and a regular calcium that I got when I started into the forum.

Penny's diet consist of grass and 5 or six mazuri pieces all the time. The following items are mixed with it: clovers, rose's petals, different weeds, cactus pads and herbal hay.
The herbal hay and cactus pads are not always in it.
She has grass in her indoor enclosure but she never eats it. She rather eat what I put on her tray. We have some browsing mix ( African grass and weeds) in her enclosure and she eats them as well as alfalfa.
She also eats the weeds that are planted in her enclosure plus parsley and some other flowers inside the enclosure.
ImageUploadedByTortForum1395340209.965797.jpg

Is there something that I may be missing?

Thank you!
 
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Tom

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That all sounds ideal. Now its a question of how long was the tortoise not on this routine and how long has it been on your current routine. Sometimes it will take a while to balance out whatever imbalance was there.
 

Menno

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I thought I had heard that Sulcatas (in nature) sometimes eat small stones. The stones offer some help to grind their food in the stomach. I'm not sure if this is a true story...

However, I do know ostriches use this technique.
 

Evy

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That all sounds ideal. Now its a question of how long was the tortoise not on this routine and how long has it been on your current routine. Sometimes it will take a while to balance out whatever imbalance was there.
Good question Tom, I got my tortoise last July and they say it was 4 months old. So, let's go by that. From that time to the end of October she was getting used to trying weeds, cactus pads and grass. Him, since November 2013.
Now, when re go outside she still looks for rocks in the no grassy areas.


Penny a lovely sulcata!
 

ascott

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The stones offer some help to grind their food in the stomach.

This has also been observed in tort in the wild as well as torts in captivity...yes, this is a theory as well as the mineral deficiency theory :)
 

Evy

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I think my concern here is that the rocks are big and sometimes she takes big ones and sometimes it takes her a long time to swallow them while in her mouth (it's seems like she can breath)
 

ascott

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Yeah, the hazard comes into play when they consume rocks that are large...if they are hard to get in then they can be equally if not moreso difficult to move out---and a risk of impaction can become at the forefront....keep the tort really hydrated and if the miner all works then that would be fantastic...
 

Yvonne G

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You can buy it in pet stores.

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Jenblalock003

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Yvonne

One more question..I don't seem to see the brand "MinerAll", what other brands are good and they sell in pet stores?
 

Evy

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You can order MinerAll online at pet mountain. It's great for your money. It's about $10
 

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