Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I decided to make this a new thread because the topic is a bit different.
I wanted to share some info I got from one of the tortoise groups I'm a member of.
A lot of tortoise people use cuttlebone & apparently there's been debate over whether you should peel the hard back off of the cuttlebone before offering it to your turts & torts.
Well one person recently had a problem with her tortoise becoming impacted.
When the impaction problem was finally solved it turned out that the hard back on the cuttlebone had been the cause. The tortoise is absolutely fine now, so this didn't KILL the tortoise, just caused this problem. The family is still using cuttlebone but they are now peeling it before offering it.
I'm not against using cuttlebone if it's needed I just wanted those of you who use it to be aware that this happened to that family.
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PHRatz

Thanks Ratz...I've seen similar caveats on other list-serves, too, and I decided to chip off the hard backing just in case, even though I doubt that a young turtle would be able to break off a piece on its own.
the people that I know who give it to trtles are sort of 50/50 about whether or not to remove it. It sounded like the ingestion/impaction issue may be more of a problem with larger tortoises (based on what I'd read...I could be wrong).

I remember reading on a past thread about peeling the outer shell off of cuttlebone. I seem to recall someone suggested boiling it in water to remove it? I could be mistaken though. I was wondering how you get the outer layer off of your cuttlebone? I just started offering it to my EBT yearling and he literally bites chunks off of it and then drags the entire cuttlebone around the enclosure to ensure he doesnt "lose" it...
I think I've come to the conclusion that everything he does is adorable.
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1.0.0 Jack Russel Terrier: Skipper
0.1.0 Miniature Pinscher: Bambi
1.1.1 Eastern Box Turtles: Daisy, Dozer, and Magnum
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider: Rosie
0.2.0 Rats: Clementine and Elsie
0.0.2 Rainbow Cichlids

Someone suggested soaking to me too, saying that it made the process easier, which I tried but it didn't seem to make any difference.
I just take a paring knife, work the blade under the edge of the 'shell'(between the hard layer and the softer layer) and just sort of chip the hard layer off a little bit at a time.
It's a little messy but it's not very difficult to do.

I'll try it out. Thanks a lot for the advice
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1.0.0 Jack Russel Terrier: Skipper
0.1.0 Miniature Pinscher: Bambi
1.1.1 Eastern Box Turtles: Daisy, Dozer, and Magnum
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider: Rosie
0.2.0 Rats: Clementine and Elsie
0.0.2 Rainbow Cichlids

I wonder if a potato peeler would work?
Me being a klutzy one who'd surely cut a finger.... I just wonder if a nice cheap one from the dollar store would work.
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PHRatz

>> I think I've come to the conclusion that everything he does is adorable.

That's because everything they do IS adorable.
They all crack me up because they're just so cute!
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PHRatz

>> I think I've come to the conclusion that everything he does is adorable.

Oh, I'm sure it is! Just not as adorable as MY "kids"! (heehee)
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
0.1.0 Flemish giant (rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>the people that I know who give it to trtles are sort of 50/50 about whether or not to remove it. It sounded like the ingestion/impaction issue may be more of a problem with larger tortoises (based on what I'd read...I could be wrong).

That may be correct. The tortoise I was talking about is a large tortoise- over 50lbs I believe.
Since it happened to a large one I'd be inclined to chip it off too just in case.
I've tried cuttlebone with my gang.. can't seem to get anyone interested in it except for the long dog. LOL
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PHRatz