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Cuttlebone Smell?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:07 pm
by Caphits
What does cuttlebone smell like to you?

I recently bought some, and it has a VERY bad smell to it. I guess it smells like dog or cat urine. I will not give any to my turtle until I find out what it is supposed to smell like. I have some older cuttlebone shells, and they smell like NOTHING. No aroma at all. :( I smelled the package, and it has no smell to it at all.

Thank you very much. :)

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:19 pm
by BullDog
To me, it usually smells slightly fishy, or like old sea shells (slightly salty perhaps?).

None of mine has smelled as strong as urine. I'm not sure, but it's possible you got a bad one. Is the old cuttlebone the same brand as the new one?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:27 pm
by Caphits
The first brand is top wing. They are the good cuttlebones

The bad brand is petco. They smell bad bad real bad. they came in a pack of 6, and they all smell bad.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:41 pm
by Kemul
I bought non-branded cuttlebones, very very cheap in the animal market here.
They don't have any smell to me.

What about putting the bad cuttlebones under the sun? Perhaps it'll get rid of
whatever bad things in them?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:13 pm
by theartbook35
Okay, bad smelling stuff 9 times out of 10 isn't edible, so, you'll prolly wanna throw them away. I'd expect a cuttlebone to smell fishy, or like nothing, but not like a dog or urine.

I haven't been to the Petco closest to me in a while. I sort of feel like I am walking into a store run by morons. Their ball pythons last time I was there, didn't look as healthy as they could. All of them, their skin was kind of dry dull looking, and they had ten crammed in a ten gallon space. There's no way all ten pythons could be shedding at the same time. The lighting was very poor, too.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:07 pm
by Caphits
Yeah, Im gonna have to give them a ring, and see if I can get some sort of replacement. There is absolutly no cuttlebone in my town, so I usually get it out of state, and never check it before I get it home.

ugh. Sam could really use some more cuttlebone right now. He is going through a shed. I guess I can scrape some small chunks off of some "old" cuttlebone. (I dont chip away backing, I chip away chunks of the soft stuff)

PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:09 pm
by theartbook35
Caphits wrote:Yeah, Im gonna have to give them a ring, and see if I can get some sort of replacement. There is absolutly no cuttlebone in my town, so I usually get it out of state, and never check it before I get it home.

ugh. Sam could really use some more cuttlebone right now. He is going through a shed. I guess I can scrape some small chunks off of some "old" cuttlebone. (I dont chip away backing, I chip away chunks of the soft stuff)


Ya know that cuttlebone thread I made, and those sand dollar things I talk about, why not try those? That website ships within like, two or three days, which by my standards is pretty quick. (I've had to wait weeks and weeks for things from other online shippers of non-turtle supplies).

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:22 pm
by TheComputerGremlin
I can't say my cuttlebone has a pleasant smell, but it's not strong and not urine-y. It actually reminds me of my laboratory gloves, which is weird. I avoid smelling it, though, because the powder makes me sneeze. I would definitely take it back to Petco and tell them something's wrong with it.

Cuttlebone is easily gotten on the internet, so maybe buy there from now on. As for the shed, up the blueberries until you get cuttlebone around, or you can see if there is any calcium powder or calcium-fortified turtle snacks when you go to Petco for replacement.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:32 am
by Caphits
Good news. I got more cuttlebone at a PETSMART. I opened the package before I even paid for it. No bad smell. :D

As it turns out, there are no petcos in billings montana....Ill have to go to one when I go to Idaho.

Thanks for everyones help! :)

PostPosted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:15 pm
by theartbook35
Caphits wrote:Good news. I got more cuttlebone at a PETSMART. I opened the package before I even paid for it. No bad smell. :D

As it turns out, there are no petcos in billings montana....Ill have to go to one when I go to Idaho.

Thanks for everyones help! :)


You'll never trust cuttlebone again... *dun dun dun*