My Leopard Tortoise is Eating Cuttlebone Like Crazy

Clue7up

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Hi, my leopard tortoise is 10 months old, and it is eating the cuttlebone like crazy, even thought I do provide ZooMed calcium powder once a week. I'm wondering if that is a norm?
 

Kapidolo Farms

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I would caution against allowing them to eat too much. I don't know how to quantify 'too much', but it can cause a problem. I had one group of hatchlings in which one ate several bites of cuttle bone frequently, at least every few days. It then stopped eating at all. It withdrew from 'normal daily activity, based on what all the other hatchlings were doing. I had to make sure it would soak daily, all the others were walking into and out of the water dish on their own. All distinguishable growth stopped, while the others continues to grow.

After several months it slowly started to grow again, but never caught up with the others.

I do not know a few things, like, did it have an intestinal blockage from chunks of cuttle bone? Was the amount of cuttle bone in it digestive track inhibiting other nutrients absorption? Was the gut floras damaged by such a large intake of cuttle bone? I use a sharpie pen to single tortoises out when I have several together, so I know one from another. After is started to grow again, many months later, I gave it to someone who had purchased a few, with full disclosure of its history. It is still growing very very slowly.

I now use calcium carbonate from limestone.
 

Clue7up

New Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2018
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Beijing,China
I would caution against allowing them to eat too much. I don't know how to quantify 'too much', but it can cause a problem. I had one group of hatchlings in which one ate several bites of cuttle bone frequently, at least every few days. It then stopped eating at all. It withdrew from 'normal daily activity, based on what all the other hatchlings were doing. I had to make sure it would soak daily, all the others were walking into and out of the water dish on their own. All distinguishable growth stopped, while the others continues to grow.

After several months it slowly started to grow again, but never caught up with the others.

I do not know a few things, like, did it have an intestinal blockage from chunks of cuttle bone? Was the amount of cuttle bone in it digestive track inhibiting other nutrients absorption? Was the gut floras damaged by such a large intake of cuttle bone? I use a sharpie pen to single tortoises out when I have several together, so I know one from another. After is started to grow again, many months later, I gave it to someone who had purchased a few, with full disclosure of its history. It is still growing very very slowly.

I now use calcium carbonate from limestone.
Thank you so much, super helpful, seems I should remove the cuttle bone from the enclosure.
 

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