Reptile & Amphibian Forums

They've been eating the gravel on the bottom of their tank for a little under a month now. The gravel is made up of a bag of medium sized aquarium gravel and a bag of aquarium gravel the next size down. The smallest stuff in the tank is about 3/16"-1/4" and the larger stuff is around 3/4". What could happen to them? They seem to have a little trouble swallowing the bigger stuff i see them eat, the biggest i've seen is about 3/8". There's no signs of negative effects(i.e. sickly behavior, change in appearance, choking). What should i do?

In the pics below i put the bottom edge of the tank in for something to compare the gravel's size to. The edge is 1.5" tall.

>>They've been eating the gravel on the bottom of their tank for a little under a month now. What could happen to them? What should i do?

Take the gravel out. They can become impacted from eating it & if the gravel doesn't pass through their digestive tract then they can die with or without surgery.
They don't need gravel in the tank, they don't need a substrate at all, but if you need one use large river rock or something too large for them to swallow.
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PHRatz

Not to sound rude but, if you noticed them eating the gravel why didnt you take it out immediately?

the gravel could definately cause an impaction, especially if they are allowed to continue eating small amounts of it. The small pieces that may not seem to harm them will add up and cause a blockage that may need surgery to fix.

The gravel isn't needed anyway and actually the tank will be much easier to clean and more hygenic for your turtles if there is no gravel.

Watch your turtles carefully and monitor their food inatke and defecation. If you notice a decrease in either, go to a vet asap as its likely an impaction is occuring.
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0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
1.1.2 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo, Louise, Orion, Jeffrey Nothing)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

He may be impacted which basically means constipated. As soon as you can take all of the gravel out and watch for gravel to start appearing on the bottom of the tank if it doesnt then your turtle could and most likely will die without passing the gravel.