Feeding and Nutrition :: My turtle eats like a vacuum cleaner

[justin]

Hi, My turtle behaves like a vacuum cleaner and eats everything from gravel to her own poop. She scarfs down her food the second it hits the water and acts all day like it is starving. From what I've read on this site, I shouldn't have gravel in the tank, but other sites mentioned that it was ok because turtles like to dig. Should I remove the gravel? The turtle seems fine after eating the rocks. Also from what i've read here, I am definitely overfeeding the turtle. She could eat food the size of her head in one big bite and be done in a second! She is only 1 year old. Please advise.

[jenaero]

Definetly remove the gravel! She may seem fine, and she may actually be passing them but the only way to be sure is to get it out of there asap! You can use large river rocks if you want to give her something to dig in. After you remove the gravel, keep a close eye out for when she passes it. Remove them as they appear before she eats them again. My res ate gravel (I didn't know they were doing it until I caught them one day) and they were passing it for months after I removed it.

[turboturtle8]

Gravel any smaller than her head should be taken out of her tank it can get stuck in her and can end up dead.Turles do love to dig if you want to get her large sized river rocks (bigger than her head) they sell them at walmart for like a dollar but be perpared because having any type of gravel in your turtles tank will require lots of cleaning because the food and some of her poop gets stuck in the gravel and is a lot more work to take the gravel in and out of the tank.That is why most of the people have bare bottom tanks.

As for your turtle eating her own poop that is perfectly normal.Overfeeding can lead to begging.Imagine her head hollow tey to imagine how many pellets would fit in her head ( not including her neck).That is how much you should feed her.Also start offering her veggies keep on trying even if she refuses.Make sure to give her a varitey

[megcornell]

As others said, the gravel should be removed ASAP. You can replace it with larger rocks or leave the bottom of your tank bare. My turtle has a few large river rocks that she likes to push around to find food scraps. As for food, you should take a look at the nutrition section to get an idea of what other foods you can start adding into your turtles diet. Veggies are a good everyday food to add to the pellets.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Remove the gravel....it isn't good for them.

We already had one very sad report on this board of a turtle dying from his stomach being full of gravel & not being able to poop it out. An x-ray at the vet's office showed his stomach was so full, there was no room for food. It was a very tragic story but totally preventable!

[Safdar]

Take those puppies outa there
Even if the gravel is small
If he eats more than one it can collect up in his intestine and cause an impaction
Which can kill your turtle
And requires a vet's attention

[kmichael55]

I have had my turtles for 6 months, I have never used gravel, just a bare bottom. About a week ago I found 3 small pieces of gravel in poo... The guy I bought them from (at a flea market) had gravel... I feel so bad for them that it took them 6 months to pass the gravel..I'm going to get them x-rayed once I have enough $...although they have been pooping fine...that was a scary thing to find though.