Eating substrate

[SarahCab]

Just curious... I feed my boxie on a flat rock. Depending on the food he stays there and eats. However, whenever I feed him his night crawlers he likes to drag it every which way and it coats it in the substrate (Eco earth block). He continues to eat it, dirt and all.

Is this bad for him? He would never go for separate container eating.

 

[cmacusa3]

That's just what they do. Mine that live outside drag them all over everything,,.. that's how they do in the wild too.

 

[SarahCab]

Very true. I guess they live in dirt so nothing is clean. thanks for the reassurance.

 

[JoesMum]

It happens. That's why we're careful about substrates. Sand impacts in the gut, other substrates are more likely to pass.

You can improve things by having a bigger flat rock or slate, but it always happens to some extent

 

[cmacusa3]

my smaller ones I put in a soaking tub without water and clean worms and they eat them right up. He would probably go for them after a while of being left alone.

 

[ColleenT]

my Turtle vet just told me if you BUY the earthworms, the dirt is weird, and if they ingest this dirt they can become impacted. So if you purchase your earthworms, she said rinse them in a bowl of water for 5 minutes and that will also encourage the worm to poop, so none of that other dirt is ingested by your turtle.