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Is the Zoo-Med turtle dock safe for eating? My turtles don't eat the dock on purpose, but when I drop their food pellets, which are nearly identical in color to the Dock, and they float next to the dock, the turtles often snap at their food, and take tiny bits of the dock with them when eating, is this safe?

Also, often when my turtles try to get on the dock, they scratch and break off small bits of the dock, the same size as their food pellets, and often mistake the bits of Dock as actual food, and eat that too (they don't spit it out), is this normal?

There are several other posts that state that there is a type of plaster that the dock is made of that contains calcium. I'd try to put some cuttlebone in with them because they probably are searching for more calcium in their diet.

I don't think that is the case for them, as I drop in a chunk of cuttlebone every day or two (usually one day after the previous chunk is gone), and they consume it in a matter of hours.

Mainly worried if they can digest it, or if the material from the dock can be toxic (particularly the paint).

But thanks for the info about the calcium within the dock, I learned something today, .

Flutterby is right - those floating docks are made out of plaster of paris which is actually calcium sulfate. Since they aren't eating it on purpose and you're giving them cuttlebone, it shouldn't be anything to worry about. If you are worried, try feeding them on the other side of the tank, away from the dock.

The pellets have a way of floating over to the side of the tank with the dock everytime, same with the cuttlebone, and everything else.

But I guess there's nothing to be worried about, so it's fine.

Is there any way to adjust the flow of your filter so that it doesn't keep pushing the food to that area? Just a thought

Well I could rotate the spray bar to hit the tank, but the jets of water would rebound back into the same direction, the only thing I can think of would be to keep the output on the same side as the dock, except there is no room for that combination, hmm.

You could also try feeding them in a separate container of water.

I might sometime in the future when I have more time, but for now, I can't spare the time during the weekdays to do that, and they get all stressed out and dig their claws into my fingers and release urine when I pick them up,

I didn't buy that turtle dock because I knew my big baby would eat it. I didn't want to have to keep going out and buying turtle docks, so I went with the acrylic kind that sticks to the wall with suction cups. She can't eat it and I am very glad!