Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quick question/s. How do I feed cuttlebone to my turtles? I read that I'm supposed to take the hard back off, but it's really hard so how do I go about doing that? Do turtles actually enjoy eating the white powder? Do I just take a small chunk off and let them nibble at it? Is it very high in calcium?

Thaaaanks!

I use a knife to take the plastic hard backing off (turtle might eat so it's best to remove). Just scrape/chip it off, it's tedious but necessary. I just break a chunk off (about a 1/3)the main cuttle bone and toss it in the tank (it floats). Doesn't matter what size because the turtle will nibble on it. For some reason mine is attracted to the cuttlebone. My turtle also plays with it ::shrug::. I don't really know about calcium content but read that its a good source of calcium so I decided to be a sheep and follow the herd.

>>Quick question/s. How do I feed cuttlebone to my turtles? I read that I'm supposed to take the hard back off, but it's really hard so how do I go about doing that? Do turtles actually enjoy eating the white powder? Do I just take a small chunk off and let them nibble at it? Is it very high in calcium?
>>
>>Thaaaanks!

I don't even attempt to remove the plastic backing. Instead I use my nails to break off bite-size pieces (like 4-5 mm) from the white part (not the plastic) and toss them into the tank. The turtles hunt for them all over the tank. They love it! You can hear crunching sound as they work on this treat if you stay next to the tank...