Habitat - Indoor :: turtles eating dock

[missibsu]

I have a zoo med basking dock with two turtles. After moving to our new house and getting everything set up, the turtles have settled in. Nothing changed in the set up. After the move the turtles have begun eating their dock. I find bite sized pieces of dock floating on the water and stuck on the intake of the filter. I can't tell how much of the dock is being ingested. Is this a sign that maybe they are needing to be fed more than what I am feeding? Should I invest in a new dock, or a different method for basking? For now the old dock is in there and by some miracle is still floating.

[jenaero]

I find that usually when they chew the dock they're looking for calcium.. which is pretty smart if you think about it.. Throw in some cuttlebone and they'll likely stop eating the dock.. worked for me.

[missibsu]

They have been getting cuttlebone. About half a block (for two turts) every other week or so. Should I add more? More at a time, or more frequently?

[jenaero]

I make sure there's always at least a piece floating in the tank. Once it's gone, I replace it promptly.

[missibsu]

Sounds like a plan to start with, thanks. I didn't think that it could be a food thing because it is a well-rounded diet, and there is usually some veggies left floating the next morning when I get up.

[steve]

Hi Missi, good to see you again! I think you might want to consider a cork bark basking area and I've never been a fan of those basking docks.

[missibsu]

Thanks Steve! It's good to be back. My husband hogs the computer for world of warcraft of an evening. Actually had a moment at school yesterday.

I'm going to have to do some research on the cork bark, it's been awhile. I seem to remember that soaking has to be done before placing it in the tank. Or I could be thinking of something else. This is why I have the day off.

[hoojib88]

CUTTLEBONE SMHUTTLEBONE! That's the biggest amount of baloney I've ever heard!! I feed my turtles turtle jello shots I put CALCIUM in the jello shots. Guess what? They still eat that basking platform. I also tried this blasphemy everyone says about cuttlebone.. They left the cuttlebone alone and continued to eat that delicious turtle dock. Cause it was fun I guess.. Stupid churtles. My suggestion either keep your dock and continue to clean out little bite sized morsels or buy something else and never look back. I made one out of egg crate they seem to like it I guess.. At least smee and pongo aren't biting it anymore.

[MoreBloodWine]

Some turtles like cuttlebone and some dont, just because it doesnt work for you doesnt mean its a total flop. My lil one loves the hell out of it... each chunk I put in is gone inside of 10 mins if not sooner.

[hoojib88]

My turtles will nibble on cuttlebone too. But it doesn't prevent the turtle from eating that kind of platform. I think it's more of a texture thing for the turtle. They like sinking their beaks into something like that. They don't even eat the platform, they just bite it. So that disproves that dock chewing is calcium related.

I posted a topic a while back about this same topic.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

[theartbook35]

Okay, then just get a different kind of platform that they can't break apart.

http://www.petdiscounters.com sells some really nice basking docks. Don't buy the foam basking log, I did and my turtles don't eat it but they do rip chunks out of it. It's also horrific to clean, since it absorbs tons of water, and the only way to get it clean it to rinse and squeeze it, then blow dry it. Not fun. I'll use it for the frog I want instead. I'm going to take it out when I get the new tank.