Feeding and Nutrition :: cuttlebone

[chicken8d]

hello. when feeding pieces of cuttlebone to turtles, what does it mean by remove the backing? isnt the bone hard throughout?

thank you =)

[Swaypippin]

No the part that they eat you can put your fingernail through quite easily. The backing on the cuttlebone is quite hard and flakes away with help from a knife, your fingernail will not go through this, thus the turtke cannot bite through it and cannot digest it. This is why it is suggested to be removed.

[meltedspork]

As Sway said, the part that they eat is soft, kind of chalky, while the bad part is hard and shiny looking. It can be a pain to get the backing off at first, but you will get better with practice

[trudykurz]

Check the sticky on cuttlebone, it's great, shows pictures how to get the backing off.

[Caphits]

Its not a bone as you think of one probably. It is in no way like a chicken bone, that is pretty much hard all throughout. It has a hard shell like thing on one side, and the rest is a chalky foamy sort of material. I also recommend the sticky, and the other threads about cuttlebone.

[theartbook35]

As far as this backing is concerned, what's the point of putting in the packaging if the turtle can't eat it? Unless it somehow preserves the cuttlebone they can eat, and possibly holds it together, why don't they just remove it before selling?

[meltedspork]

As far as this backing is concerned, what's the point of putting in the packaging if the turtle can't eat it? Unless it somehow preserves the cuttlebone they can eat, and possibly holds it together, why don't they just remove it before selling?

A cuttlebone is an actual "bone" from a cuttlefish... they sell it exactly "as is"... most of them are sold for birds, not for turtles. For birds, you clip them to their cages so they can only get to the soft side. For turtles, you have to remove the hard side for them or they will eat it. Not sure why they sell "Turtle Bones" with the backing on... too much trouble to take it off maybe?

[theartbook35]

As far as this backing is concerned, what's the point of putting in the packaging if the turtle can't eat it? Unless it somehow preserves the cuttlebone they can eat, and possibly holds it together, why don't they just remove it before selling?

A cuttlebone is an actual "bone" from a cuttlefish... they sell it exactly "as is"... most of them are sold for birds, not for turtles. For birds, you clip them to their cages so they can only get to the soft side. For turtles, you have to remove the hard side for them or they will eat it. Not sure why they sell "Turtle Bones" with the backing on... too much trouble to take it off maybe?

Oh, see, I had no idea cuttlebone was for birds. I've had birds but cuttlebone was never used or even brought up.