Harley ate a stone

[laney]

Ahhhh I just caught Harley eating a little stone out of her substrate! I caught her when it was still in her mouth and I tried to prise it out but she was not giving up and quickly swallowed it. She seemed to have no issue swallowing it but is it likely it could get stuck further down?? To top things off she then stomped off to her bed in a sulk disamused that I had tried to take something out of her mouth

 

[cemmons12]

They can cause an impaction. I would remove all of them ASAP.

 

[dmmj]

A general rule is, if it goes in then it will come out. The main problem is when they eat a lot of them, and then blockages results. One should not hurt it.

 

[wellington]

DITTO on both post.

 

[Happy Tortoise]

don't some of them use it to aid digestion? I don't no so don't not get help pk?

 

[cemmons12]

I tend to be a worry wort when it comes to my Cooper. 1 stone prolly wont hurt but I would just make sure there are no more so you wont have to worry about it. Sorry if I pushed the panic button.

 

[mainey34]

This happens and will most likely pass. It usually means one of 2 things. Either she was trying to scare the bejesus out of you or she is lacking minerals. Do you use miner-all?

 

[biochemnerd808]

Yeah, one rock won't (shouldn't) kill her... but a bunch more could. I'd take them out. My rule of thumb is the same as with babies and toddlers: if it fits through a TP roll, it's too small and can be a choking (or impaction) hazard.

Make sure you have a cuttlebone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can help itself to some good calcium if it needs it.

A general rule is, if it goes in then it will come out. The main problem is when they eat a lot of them, and then blockages results. One should not hurt it.

 

[bigred]

I would try to remove all the rocks then I smash cuttlebone into small pcs. so they think they are eating rocks but eat the cuttlebone instead

 

[sibi]

I tried that and it really doesn't work. Rock-eating babies don't enjoy crushed pieces of cuttlebone. It's as though the fun is taken out of it when you break up the calcium for them. I'm not even sure they eat rocks because they lack some kind of mineral. My baby ate a lot of rocks, got impacted, then passed all of them with difficulty. He did however, build up enough calcium deposits to form a stone in his bladder which had to be surgically removed last week. No, the best thing to do is remove any/all stones in the soil, and watch him when he grazes outside because that's where he'll pick up most of the stones. Finally, I your baby is officially a "Rock-eating" baby.

 

[bigred]

I tried that and it really doesn't work. Rock-eating babies don't enjoy crushed pieces of cuttlebone. It's as though the fun is taken out of it when you break up the calcium for them. I'm not even sure they eat rocks because they lack some kind of mineral. My baby ate a lot of rocks, got impacted, then passed all of them with difficulty. He did however, build up enough calcium deposits to form a stone in his bladder which had to be surgically removed last week. No, the best thing to do is remove any/all stones in the soil, and watch him when he grazes outside because that's where he'll pick up most of the stones. Finally, I your baby is officially a "Rock-eating" baby.

This process does work for my small radiated

 

[laney]

Thanks everyone.

It just looked like a clump of soil but when I tried to get it from her it was solid so a little stone must have been in it.
She gets nutrabol and calcium powder on her food on alternate days and has a cuttlebone but usually ignores it. I watch her for hours a day, whenever I'm in, I sit and watch my babies and I have never witnessed her doing this, hopefully it was just a one off. I'm going to try and sift through her substrate again in case there are more things she can eat.
I hope it does come out, I've read about people's torts getting compacted :s

 

[mainey34]

I do know that my sulcata was lacking some kind of minerals, and I say this because she would eat rocks daily. And pass rocks daily in her daily soaks. I purchased miner-all..in one week. My sulcata was no longer eating rocks. So that tells me that she had lacked minerals.

---

Also, the best thing to do is lots of long warm soaks.

 

[laney]

Ok thanks, is miner-all the same as nutrabol??

 

[sibi]

Be careful about giving your tort too much calcium or miner-all. Like I said before, my baby had to have surgery to remove calcium deposit that formed a 1 inch diameter stone. I doubt my tort was lacking any minerals or calcium that wasn't already supplied in abundance in his foods. The doc told me to stop giving my tort calcium even though I was only giving small amounts once a week. Also, he had been receiving soaks 2-3 times daily from when he was a month old. Beside that, his sibling who was raised with him and receives the exact same care never developed calcium deposits and never ate rocks. So, what that tells me is that my baby just likes eating rocks....he is not lacking any minerals or calcium or soaks...he just likes rocks period. Having said that, every tort is different and may react differently to supplements and foods. Just be mindful that if your tort continues to eat rocks, you don't have to feel that you have to supply minerals he may not even need, and act accordingly.

 

[laney]

Thanks that is something I didn't know could happen. Its very hard to know what to do for the best sometimes!