Feeding and Nutrition :: Yet another cuttlebone ?

[FLhaven4strays]

I know it's great for them & all, but my 2 pond females have me worried they're eating too much of it.

Liza is 9" (penn cooter) Lucy is 5.5" (dbt) and between them they probably polished off around a full cuttlebone today. Well, Mercer had 3-4 bites but that's it. It's not like they never get any - I feed cuttlebone several times a week, though they don't always eat quite this much. Lucy's only been w/ us for a few weeks though, so I don't know if she was ever offered this good calcium before (may be making up for lost time)

So - CAN you overfeed cuttlebone and does this sound like too much? They did quit eating it on their own - turning away the last few bites I dropped in the water, so they were finished.

[BullDog]

I'm not sure of the answer myself, but I'm curious as well, since Frankie just can't seem to get enough of it. I assumed that there's no such thing as too much cuttlebone, as long as their eating their other proper foods, but I could be wrong.

[Chrisbarnett]

How do you break up the cuttlebone? Just curious because I want to try breaking it up for my turt. A little off the topic, sorry.

[Tenodera]

They could be needing more calcium than normal because they're about to lay eggs.

Cuttlebone you have to peel off the plastic backing since it is indigestible.

[FLhaven4strays]

How do you break up the cuttlebone? Just curious because I want to try breaking it up for my turt. A little off the topic, sorry.

I prepare about 6-7 cuttlebones at a time - break each one in 2- 4 pieces then cut away the hard backing. Some tiny pieces fall off when I do this, but I save them anyway for the babies. When I'm done I have a box of peeled cuttlebone. When feeding I take a piece & just break it into bite sized pieces & either hand feed them or toss it in the water. It can be hard breaking off bite sized pieces for the little guys, but I've found if you squeeze a pinch sized piece it usually crumbles up pretty good for them.