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OK, so I bought two turtle bones, or as some of you may call it, cuttlebone, and I searched up what to do with it if they are not eating. However, I wanted to ask if any of your turtles don't eat it, and it's almost as if they don't think it's food. What is the best way to make sure they get their calcium? I tried breaking it into smaller pieces, but I think it might be because they are small, I really don't know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just leave it in there and see what happens, sometimes it just takes them a bit of time to realize they can eat it.

cam722 wrote:Just leave it in there and see what happens, sometimes it just takes them a bit of time to realize they can eat it.

Sorry, I made it sound like I just got it. When I had them in the little tank with only a little bit of water, they didn't really go for it, maybe once. I just broke off a small piece into the bigger setup and I am hoping they try it now. I don't see how they can eat a hard bone when they are so small.

Even baby one inch res can eat it. If you are worried about whether they are getting enough you can drop an adult centrum tablet into the water. I do that about once a week, one tablet from the 10 gallon up to the 30 gallon then 2 tablets up to the 55 gallon and about 8 in the pond. Sea world does this with their marine animals, it will make the water cloudy for a brief time but that clears within a day.

Breaking it up into small pieces is good. Be sure, also, that you've removed all the hard backing from one side of the bone. Do you know about that?

I put a piece of cuttlebone in one of those vegetable clips. It holds the bone fixed so Spot can get a better grip. He would get kind of frustrated when he'd try to bite and the thing would scoot away. He eats more since I've been using the veggie clip.

SpotsMama wrote:Breaking it up into small pieces is good. Be sure, also, that you've removed all the hard backing from one side of the bone. Do you know about that?

I put a piece of cuttlebone in one of those vegetable clips. It holds the bone fixed so Spot can get a better grip. He would get kind of frustrated when he'd try to bite and the thing would scoot away. He eats more since I've been using the veggie clip.

It is turtlebone and says to throw it right in, its kind of like a block of chalk, so when you guys say backing I don't really understand what you mean. I am not sure how to get a veggie clip in there so they can eat it, or what it is, but it is a great suggestion.

Turtle bone is cuttle bone sold specifically for turtles with the backing already removed. Just a way to charge more imo.

Maybe you can do the same for cuttlebone as you would to entice turtles to eat food, dip it into tuna water or something.

I don't really recommend this, but it was worked before so...you could try starving your turtles by not feeding them and leaving only the cuttlebone in there, they may be forced to make a sacrifice,

Again, don't try what I said above unless nothing is working.

mkoby wrote:Turtle bone is cuttle bone sold specifically for turtles with the backing already removed. Just a way to charge more imo.

We have heard that is not always the case. When ever using Turtle Bone, please double check

I haven't found on of those turtle bones with the backing removed, although some others have claimed they bought some that did.

adam85491, experiment with shapes. I've used a knife to make really thin, small pieces that will crumble easily if I press on them. Getting the scent of something they like on the pieces might help, too.

Still not eating the turtlebone, but they were really hungry tonight and ate the best I have seen them eat in a while. They seem to prefer the HBH green and red pellets over the nutrafin food sticks. I also gave each of them a piece of dried shrimp from this bag of medley that they got for christmas from my Mom. They seemed to like it, but I think it's just supposed to be a treat. Anyway, they will not eat if they don't want to, but they were even eating the old pellets. I don't want to overfeed, but they seemed pretty hungry, I stopped at about 5 each with a shrimp and a dash of krill treats. I know it's if their head was hollow, then feed them that much, but to me that seems like a rough judgement, and the bigger one is still searching around for food, maybe he will eat that tutlebone soon. Should I give them more food? The smaller one was done and went up and basked some more, but the bigger one seems to think the decorative dragon is food, but I think he is finding out that it is not.

Here's a thread with some pictures of a veggie clip. Look at the last two photos on the page. It's the orange thing with the carrot sticking out of it. It's sort of like a clothes pin with a sucker on it. You can get them in the fish section of the pet store for a dollar or two.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... eggie+clip

By the way, did you know you can get cuttlebones in the bird section of the store that are exactly the same thing as those "turtle bones" but a lot cheaper?

On removing the hard backing, I think in a short time there's going to be a demo in the Nuitrition section of the main site on the subject and how to remove it. Last I looked it was still under constrution but should be there soon.

Here's a thread with some discussion of that hard backing:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... cuttlebone

SpotsMama wrote:Here's a thread with some pictures of a veggie clip. Look at the last two photos on the page. It's the orange thing with the carrot sticking out of it. It's sort of like a clothes pin with a sucker on it. You can get them in the fish section of the pet store for a dollar or two.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... eggie+clip

By the way, did you know you can get cuttlebones in the bird section of the store that are exactly the same thing as those "turtle bones" but a lot cheaper?

On removing the hard backing, I think in a short time there's going to be a demo in the Nuitrition section of the main site on the subject and how to remove it. Last I looked it was still under constrution but should be there soon.

Here's a thread with some discussion of that hard backing:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... cuttlebone

Thanks a lot. Yes, I do know that now, but at the time I did not, nor did I see it before and thought it would be a cool treat.

About the cuttlebone, is it like a hard white block like turtle bones? I cant push the turtlebones against something and it will indent it, but that is all. It is only two dollars for two blocks about six inches big here. But if I decide to get cuttlebone, will it be softer and should I get the flavored kind? I also noticed that many of them have a metal wire on them, how easy does that come off?

Cuttlebone is EXACTLY the same thing. The forum recommends that you not get the flavored kind. Don't know how the turtles would react to the additives. Those metal holders are easy to pry off (at least the ones I get around here are easy).