Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I haven't observed this myself, but my 11-year-old swears our turtle is eating the rocks at the bottom of his tank. I thought maybe he was just eating them and spitting them out, but she says he is swallowing them. Is this normal? It can't possibly be okay, can it? Help!

Kelli

It is possible that the turtle is just "tasting" the gravel and spitting it back out but it is also possible that it is, indeed, eating it.

This is something that is considered "normal" behavior - but no - you do not want this to happen.

The thinking is that turtles and tortoises experience a normal calcium "hunger" in the wild. For this reason when they come upon gravel - especially white gravel - they eat some of it. In the wild the turtle spends a great deal of time looking for food and in bare areas with a lot of gravel there is not a lot of food to be found so this does not present a problem there.

In an aquarium with a gravel bottom and regular feedings this can be a problem though as the turtle is no longer spending time looking for food but is still "wired" to a calcium hunger. As a result the animal can become impacted with gravel causing big problems if it does not pass through the digestive system. I have seen tortoises defecate gravel for three weeks after being removed from locations where they engaged in consuming gravel.

Another possibility is that the turtle is trying to eat algea off the rocks, if this results in ingestion of the gravel it still is to be avoided.

I would replace the gravel with a larger size stone too large to swallow, or remove the gravel entirely (easier to clean the habitat that way) and avoid the problem prior to it becoming a problem.

Another thing you can do is supply some cuttlebone for the animal to provide it an alternative to chew on for its calcium. But I would still remove the gravel.

Darrell

World Chelonian Trust

Thanks. I will take out the gravel this weekend when I do a water change. Silly turtle.

I know what you mean about defecating the gravel. I adopted 4 red ears and yellow belly and put them in a rubbermaid with no gravel. For 3 weeks they were filling the bottom with white and pink gravel!! I can't imagine how they could have had all that gravel filling their gut and not be weighed down.

Also keep in mind the size of the rocks in relation to your turtles. Nice smooth rocks are safer. I just adopted a young one that had never seen gravel or pebbles. I have 1/2 inch size smooth pebbles. The first couple of days, Junior thought it was a buffet of food and kept trying to eat the pebbles. he eventually learned that its not food but I wonder if he was an adult and/or the pebbles were still too small, whether he would have swallowed it.