Feeding and Nutrition :: Question about cuttle bone

[steve]

I use a butter knife. Some people use a sharper knife, but a butter knife will do the job.

[CApears4u2]

To peel the hard part of the cuttlebone, I used a fairly dull paring knife. Sometimes you can chip some off with your fingernail but what works best (for me anyway) is something thin, hard and somewhat sharp. Ya don't want to cut yourself!







Delta, CA

[missibsu]

I use a butter knife after I put a nice slice under my finger nail.

[CApears4u2]

Oh ouch!! I can certainly understand!

Actually my paring knife is very dull - so dull I can run my finger firmly across the blade and can only feel the chips! I like to use it because the end is pointed.

[marisa]

I find the pointed end to be important---good for prying off pieces to get the process going. I use a really sharp paring knife, but really use the point of it the most.

Now, for those of you who don't want to go to the trouble of dealing with cuttlebone backing and who don't mind spending a little more money, there's a newish Zoo-Med product called Turtle Bone, which, I understand, is cuttlebone without the backing.

[steve]

Thanks for pointing that out. Here's an image and link:

http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.asp? ... rodID=1044

The price is comparable to normal cuttlebone, at least the ones near me.

[marisa]

That's just a little more expensive than the cuttlebone I buy here. I think it's a little more expensive if you get it at a place like Petsmart as well.

[Billy Black]

I didn't see any cuttlebone at my PetSmart. I'll try PetCo.

Also, that Turtle Bone that you linked to, how long does it last? The shipping is more than twice as expensive as the product is. If they don't last long, I may as well buy two at once, since it doesn't seem to increase the shipping cost.

[flutterby]

Billy, you may have to look in the bird section for it. Thats where the Petsmart here has it.

[Billy Black]

I found the Turtle Bone at PetSmart. It says in the instructions to just put the whole thing in the water. It doesn't mention removing it from the hard backing. Is this correct? It almost turns into powder when I try to separate it.

[flutterby]

Turtle Bone is pretty much cuttlebone without the backing. I would just put a piece in at a time because it can disolve into the water. But thats just me.

[Billy Black]

It has some sort of hard backing on it. So it's ok for him to eat the whole thing? He doesn't seem that interested, so I'll definitely only put in small pieces.

[CountryGirl68]

Everyone here has suggested to take the hard backing off, so I went ahead and did that when I've fed my turtle cuttlebone. I'd rather not risk finding out if the hard backing is good or not for him. And since it is easy to remove, it's not an issue for me.

I do have to cut it into tiny pieces or my turtle doesn't want to eat it.

[steve]

Billy, can you dig your fingernails into it? Since I haven't used it, I don't know if it has the hard backing that most cuttlebone have. It shouldn't have it but I just want to make sure...

[scripta_elegans]

I ordered some "turtle bone", and I have bird section cuttlebone, so when it arrives, I'll do a comparison.