Urgent Care :: help! eating sand!

[KatieSmeltzer]

i just set up filbert's new 50 long tank, and i was super excited to be able to add sand for a "natural" look. i ended up buying sakrete sand. i didn't notice until i added it to the tank that there's some larger matter in the sand. i picked out as much as i could, but there was no way i could go through all 50 pounds.

i fully understand that turtles may ingest sand. but when i put filbert in his tank, he ended up on the bottom, completely munching on the sand. he just sat at the bottom, eating sand. mouthful after mouthful!

now i'm at the dilemma of... do i take the sand out? or will he eventually stop eating it? i just keep thinking... bowel obstruction... vet bills... dead turtle...

please help me!

[Love of Animals]

My turtle eats some sand too. He doesn't do it all the time, but he does do it. For now try to distract him with a tasty treat. The risk of impaction is much greater with gravel. My turtle hasn't become impacted from sand. I wouldn't worry to much about it unless you see him constantly eating it. Right now it's new to him and he wants to know if it's tasty. Also if you're worried about impaction from it feed him some canned pumpkin.

[KatieSmeltzer]

i definitely loaded him up with some pellets, extra krill, and lots of greens to get him to realize "hey food comes from the top of the water, not the bottom." but i did find some poop in his tank already, so that's a little reassuring!

[happycamper]

Maybe you could find some kind of netting to remove the larger pieces? My sand actually has the same problem, and every time I syphon I pick out every piece I see that looks even slightly too big... pain in the butt. I feel your pain lol

As far as the turtle eating sand, maybe a couple feeder fish for him to chase around? Keep him occupied?

[Jaysea]

Alot of people usually use a kitchen strainer for that playsand to get the larger stuff out. My turtle also ate her sand when i first put it in and i was worried. But after a day or 2 she stopped, every now and then i see her munching on it. Alot of times when she's digging in her sand fast she'll also use her mouth but spit the sand back out. I'm sure your turtle is just exploring and trying to figure out what the new stuff is.

[Kingbird44]

I was just about to post this exact same experience. I know this was a few years ago, but I hope it worked out. I just added sand to Sedge's tank and hes doing this exact same thing. *sigh*

[steve]

I'd expect him to get bored of it fairly quickly.

[Kingbird44]

Indeed he seems to have

[steve]

Keep us updated... I've been on the sand fence for a long time now. What kind of sand did you use?

[Kingbird44]

Hmm play sand from Home Depot? It was left over from last year's garden. I rinsed it really well and it didn't make the water cloudy. When I upgrade to a 40-gallon I'm going to mix it with some other sand (unless I don't want to keep the sand).

So far, other than trying to eat it for the first day, I'm not noticing much of a difference in his behavior. I was kind of hoping he would enjoy digging in it more, like Pokepony said her turts did. We'll see.

I suppose there is a slight risk that it is harder on the filter.