General Care Discussion :: Why she eats her excrement?

[chiuhui]

It's so strange that my turtle always eats her waste.
I don't understand.
Are there the waste has any nutrition to attract her to eat?

She looking for her waste before excreting.
The things I could do is holding a net wating for her around the tank.

[marisa]

Turtles often do this. My RES did when he was younger. Some of my painted turtles still do it. Personally, I think they're attracted to the smell. Being confined to a tank and always looking for food (just what they do), also makes it more likely they're eat their poop. It's also been suggested that they're looking for missing nutrients.

At any rate, you could take it out of the tank as soon as you see it with a net like you have been doing. Or, if it breaks up into pieces or isn't that large, if you could get something called a turkey baster (its a tube with a ball at the end that you squeeze to draw liquids into that cooks use), you could use that to suction the poop up and keep the tank cleaner.

[chiuhui]

Thank you for your suggestion!
Even her poop was breaks up into pieces, I use net could clean the tank well.
I just can not understand her behavior.
For a human's viewpoint most pooeple can not accept to eat poop.

[SpotsMama]

Yes it would be quite alarming behavior in a human. Animals just see things differently.

If it's any consolation, maybe she'll get tired of it and stop. My Spot used to do it when he was little but seemed to outgrow it. He doesn't do it any more. On the other hand, someone else on here has a grown turtle who didn't used to eat poop but has now started. I suspect it's got something to do with nuitrition - that there is something specific that they need/want more of in their diet. Has she been doing this for a long time or just recently?

[chiuhui]

She ate her poop for 3 years.
Does she really need it or waht does she need?

[marisa]

If you're giving her a balanced, varied diet with a lot of different foods, I wouldn't worry about trying to figure out what she needs. Perhaps she doesn't really need anything. Just take out the poop as soon as you can if you don't want her to eat it.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Don't worry about it. Turtles eat their waste all the time & Sheba has been doing it for the entire time I had her! Normal for them, gross for us! LOL!