Anyone know if I should stay cautious of the cuttlebone? He goes crazy for those even with constant calcium supplementation. I just watched him devour half of a whole cuttlebone in one sitting and he would have kept goin if I didn’t take it away. I’m hoping there is a mechanism that tells them to stop, keeping in mind the advice I got @Tom about over supplementation being a thing, can it kill them? (I know humans get something called milk alkli syndrome)
How much cuttlebone?
- Thread starter KatApril
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My sully nibbled sometimes on it and wasn't really interested in cuttlebone but after I optimized care and he started growing his cuttlebone consume increased heavily and a cuttlebone was gone in like 2 days.. currently he eats like 1 cuttlebone every 2 months so he slowed down a bit
I think during times of fast growth its normal that they need so much calcium but I'm not an expert
Let's wait for experienced tortoise keepers [emoji1]
If they are eating the cuttlebone then they are telling you what they need, but I would not use any calcium supplement with cuttlebone. You could over do it and cause lots of problems. If tort is eating them like they are grandma's Christmas pies then I would probably limit them. Hopefully, Tom or Yvonne will chime in.
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for two reasons I stopped using cuttle bone.
1) I have had small tortoises give themselves blockage with it.
2) No way that I have found to know how it was collected. If from a beach, it's polluted. Tortoises being long lived and all, I now use limestone sourced calcium carbonate, good enough for organic food inclusion.
1) I have had small tortoises give themselves blockage with it.
2) No way that I have found to know how it was collected. If from a beach, it's polluted. Tortoises being long lived and all, I now use limestone sourced calcium carbonate, good enough for organic food inclusion.
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- South of Southern California, but not Mexico
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I've never seen cuttlebone eaten like that?
Is it relatively normal?
Is it relatively normal?
Didn't you do a part in this a while back?
@xMario he’s out basking more this week pretty much all day before he slept in his hide. Maybe he’s growing [emoji2369]. It my first sulcata so I have no clue what to look for.
@drew54 [emoji24]def chowed on it like never before, I’ve seen him nibble on would take him two weeks to eat, fastest was seven days, today was record time all that’s left is two tiny pieces. Don’t want to kill my first tortoise [emoji2357] it’s stressful.
@drew54 [emoji24]def chowed on it like never before, I’ve seen him nibble on would take him two weeks to eat, fastest was seven days, today was record time all that’s left is two tiny pieces. Don’t want to kill my first tortoise [emoji2357] it’s stressful.
