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as posted above,

i just bought my 2RES some cuddlebone for the frist time (thanks to this site ) & i was just wondering
is it ment to be that messy?
could i have picked up the wrong kind? (got it in bird section)
& how can u take off the hard part easily?

i had to put little pieces in at a time because, i had a hard time takeing off the hard part.

thanks

The only thing I found messy was removing the hard backing (I used a butter knife to scrape it). After that just break a few pieces to put in and the rest I keep in a Ziploc until needed. It's never messy when I put it in the tank. By messy, what do you mean exactly? I've never had a mess with it in the tank.

I've noticed little pieces laying on the bottom when cleaning, but that's no messier to me than some of the other things they eat. I break my cuttlebone into smaller pieces and remove the backing that way. I've found that when I do it when it's whole it is harder and takes longer. I use a sharp knife to remove mine though.. Just have to be VERY careful

like cam722 said, little pieces laying on the bottom.
how much do u put in at a time? i just put two pieces about the size of Hungrys head. (little biger than ur tumb) is that to much?

I don't think you can put too much cuttlebone in.. either they'll eat it or they won't. What they don't eat one day they will the next. I just put in chunks.. sometimes bigger than others, they just nibble on it.

My turts are more apt to eat it if it is in smaller pieces. By messy do you mean the "dust" that's created when you break it up? I usually break it up into quarters and use a paring knife to pry off the backing on each piece. Then I cut the quarters up into head-size pieces. You could try soaking it in water for a bit and see if that doesn't help get the backing pried off more easily (and you won't have the dust). On the other hand, if there's a lot of dust left, you could moisten the pellets and coat them with it, let them dry and feed them to you turts (they'd get a bit of extra calcium that way).