General Care Discussion :: Biting the silicon

[viper6277]

I have 2 turtles, one male, one female...

In the last 2 days, the female starting biting at the silicon that is in the tank, lining the floor glass...

She's biting at it, fiercely...it's been 2 weeks since I removed all the rocks from my tank, because I noticed she was eating them...

I also noticed that when I put TeraFauna ReptoGuard Health Conditioner. http://reviews.petco.com/3554/6313/reviews.htm in the tank the female just destroys that thing...eats it in minutes.

I'm changing the water in the tank tomorrow, maybe I'll try to trim the silicon with a razor blade

I feel like I give enough food, using pellets, and some of the shrimp in the treats mix

Any thoughts would be great...

maybe she is just biting to be playful... I have no idea

[robind]

What exactly are you feeding her? You might consider giving her a cuttle bone, just be sure to scrape the hard backing off.

[octpusgirl8]

Sometimes turtles get bored. Do you have turtle safe decorations in the tank for her to investigate? It's important to keep their environment interesting. Cuttlebone, as mentioned, is also a good idea. Those ReptoGuard things are crap, don't bother with them anymore. Be careful messing with the silicone, if you break the seal you'll end up with a big mess!

[viper6277]

What exactly are you feeding her? You might consider giving her a cuttle bone, just be sure to scrape the hard backing off.

I've never given them cuttle bone...I'll look for it at the pet shop tomorrow..

Usually I just give them pellets

[untsmurf]

Usually when turtles eat non-food items, it's because they're low in calcium. Providing cuttle bone will fix that.

I'm not sure if that's your problem, but it's worth a try.

The 'health conditioner' is useless and should be removed. All it does is make your turtle more immune to medication. So when the time comes to medicate your turtle, the medicine won't work as well. Plus, if she's eating them, you should leave them out.

Be careful when trimming the silicone. If you cut too close, you'll be risking breaking the seam and causing a leak.

Also, take a look at the nutrition section. It sounds like you might be overloading your turtles with protein. This can cause your turtles to grow too quickly which will stress their organs and can cause shell pyramiding. If your turtles are over four inches, or at least a year old, make sure you are offering greens on a daily basis and pellets only every other day. A list of good veggies is on the main page:
http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html

Fixing their diet might also stop the biting.

[viper6277]

Sometimes turtles get bored. Do you have turtle safe decorations in the tank for her to investigate? It's important to keep their environment interesting. Cuttlebone, as mentioned, is also a good idea. Those ReptoGuard things are crap, don't bother with them anymore. Be careful messing with the silicone, if you break the seal you'll end up with a big mess!

I have some fake sinkable plants, 2 floating basking spots, and 2 decorations...I'll post a picture of the tank tomorrow...

and I'll get some cuttle bone, it's funny that the main page does not talk about that as a calcium source...I have not even heard of it on other sites.....would have bought some months ago.

thanks for the replies...I really appreciate it.

[viper6277]

........

Also, take a look at the nutrition section. It sounds like you might be overloading your turtles with protein. This can cause your turtles to grow too quickly which will stress their organs and can cause shell pyramiding. If your turtles are over four inches, or at least a year old, make sure you are offering greens on a daily basis and pellets only every other day. A list of good veggies is on the main page:
http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html

Fixing their diet might also stop the biting.

I think your right about that...I've had them a little over a year and they are at least 4-5 inches....

looks like it's going to be move veggies for them...

I read somewhere that turtles as pets will grow faster then in the wild because they don't hibernate...which makes sense...but in the last 2-3 months...their growth was substantial...

I try to only feed once a day...a few times I would skip a day, and they would freak out...swimming nuts, and when I would feed them...it was frantic eating.

I've really tried to give only enough food as the size of their heads

[Azfar]

My turtles loves to eat and bite those silicon glue.. So I scraped off the silicon glue.. 2 weeks after dat, I found my turtles pooped out the silicon and exactly the same shape..

[mikee]

Vip-77 Don’t be surprised when a turtle starts biting something. Sometimes they are short of something and are looking for it or curious. I would suggest that you remove any rocks that they can swallow, If you like rocks I suggest that you put some in that they cannot get in their mouth. In the wild they swallow rocks and pass them until they get clogged up. It will kill them if they cannot pass them. The silicon is there for a reason I would suggest that you do not cut it out. Good Luck! m.

[robind]

You scraped off the silicon? I would be careful doing that...the silicon is there to keep the tank from leaking! Otherwise its just glass held together by a frame...not very water tight.

[Caphits]

I have some fake sinkable plants, 2 floating basking spots, and 2 decorations...I'll post a picture of the tank tomorrow...

and I'll get some cuttle bone, it's funny that the main page does not talk about that as a calcium source...I have not even heard of it on other sites.....would have bought some months ago.

thanks for the replies...I really appreciate it.

http://www.redearslider.com/supplements.html