General Care Discussion :: do turtles need to eat cuttlebone?

[Rosepruner]

I have given chunks of cuttlebone to my turtle and he seems completely uninterested. He smelled them.... and then moved on, totally not interested. I was hoping that I'd come back after a short weekend (from Friday night-Sunday morning) and he'd have eaten some of it, but he didn't even touch it. Do turtles NEED to eat cuttle bone? also, this turtle seems to be very picky about food... is that normal?

[BullDog]

How old is he? Young RES are less interested in cuttlebone, but will start munching on it as they get older. Have you tried soaking it in tuna juice?

In short, RES don't need cuttlebone, but they DO need some sort of calcium supplement (you can buy calcium dust). Cuttlebone is just the cheapest and often most convenient form of calcium you can give them.

You could also try the turtle jello shots that are stickied at the top of the feeding forum. You can sneak them calcium and veggies that way.

[Rosepruner]

I am not really sure how old the turtle is, but it's about 4.5 inches long, and I can definately tell the little guy is a boy. His shell looks pretty good, except he looks to be retaining scutes a little bit, but I'm not sure. The person I got the turtle from thinks the turtle is probably about a year old? she got him from a pet store, so there's not real way to tell. He sleeps in some of the funniest positions.

He doesn't like the tuna trick, in fact he doesn't seem like anything except goldfish in relation to fish... picky little turtle! He will eat veggies though.

[BullDog]

If he's 4.5", he's probably 1-3 years old (no way to tell for sure).

That's good he's eating veggies! Some veggies like dandelion greens have a good amount of calcium in them.

A note on goldfish: In general, goldfish aren't good for your turtle. They are very fatty and often carry more diseases than other fish. Minnows and guppies are better. But keep in mind that any fish should be a rare treat (once a month at most).

[Rosepruner]

the person who owned him before me fed him feeder goldfish, I've nevver fed him goldfish, because I read they can be really bad for them...

Where do I even look for dandelion greens?

[mikee]

Turtles don't need cuttle bone, as such, but they do need calcium. You can add it to what ever you feed them or you can get them a turtle block which is nothing more than a calcium block. Cuttlebone is cheaper. m.

[marisa]

he needs calcium, but it doesn't have to be from cuttlebone (although it's a good way for him to get some in the diet).

I buy dandelions in the supermarket (not all sell them, though). If you can't find them in the produce section, ask the produce manager. You also maybe can find them in natural food stores or markets that sell ethnic food (if they have produce sections).

You could also include collards and mustard greens in his diet. Also duckweed (an aquatic plant) has a good amount of calcium.

Just to make sure my turts are getting enough of the stuff, I occasionally coat their food with a non-phosphorus calcium supplement.

[papoopeepoo]

the person who owned him before me fed him feeder goldfish, I've nevver fed him goldfish, because I read they can be really bad for them...

Where do I even look for dandelion greens?

You can find dandelion greens in a bagged mix of salad (field) greens at mostly any supermarket. They'll be mixed with other leaves, like spinach. The darker the leaves the better. Avoid iceberg lettuce, that's something like 95% water.