Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have problems with their RES eating rocks? Mine seems to love them. They come out allright on the other end, but I can't figure out why he does it!

You may not have a problem now, you may never have a problem, but there is a chance of impaction from eating rocks. Better to take out such small rocks/gravel and use smooth river rocks larger than the size of your turtles` heads so they can`t eat them.

Some people think that eating rocks is a sign a turtle is looking for calcium. Get a cuttlebone, take off the hard backing, break it into pieces, and let some float in the tank so your turtles can munch on it. Safer and much healthier for your turtles.

Yea I'd say get some bigger rocks. It might be ok for them to eat it but who knows, maybe 1 out of a 1000 might just not come out right and it could be bad stuff. So why risk it, get some bigger gravel.. they'll bite it but will realize it's just too big to swallow it. The size of their head or a few CM shorter is fine

yes ditch the small gravel and any rocks or sand smaller than the turtle's head. use the river rock stuff as suggested above (its easier to clean too)
and throw in whole or broken tablets of calcium gluconate or calcium carbonate which are available in big jars in the vitimin section of drugstores and grocery stores.
my sliders won't touch cuttlebone but they chomp these vcalcium things down quickly
(it also helps to get them interested if you put in a few only every third week or so)

Ok so ditch the small rocks.... can do. The stores around here don't have bigger and the river rocks here are huge... so ill do some looking online. I will look into calcium too, might be something he is really needing.

Thanks!

If you want larger rocks, try Home Depot or a Nursery (garden store). Possibly even Walmart.
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Here we have landscape/yardwork type sites that only sell mulch, bark, rock and brick for yards.

The river rock we are using is about 3" or so. A lot of ppl don't use rock at all in order to clean the tank easier. We have a few for decoration and for a little traction so he doesn't slide on the glass bottom.

Good luck

Hey my RES already have already do that, i removed all rocks from its tank, and after one month i was still founding little rocks in the tank, it seem that she was evacuating them and then eat them back, so i just collect rock every day since it was ok.

For now she's living without rocks, the tank is not looking as good as before but my turtle is feeling better i guess, i give her cuttlebone and she really enjoy.

Another advantage with no rocks is that it is easier to clean!