Feeding and Nutrition :: Choking and Cal Bone

[zeek]

I just got my first Calcium bone today, I took off the hard back and cut it up nice and small. Now, how often should I feed my RES the cal bone, and can it choke her, and ifs he is choking, how can I tell and what to do.

[BullDog]

Usually you can give them as much cuttlebone as they can eat. I find they go through "phases" where they eat a lot of cuttlebone, and then they stop eating it for a while.
I haven't heard about a turtle choking on cuttlebone, but you'll want to wait for some more opinions on that...

[erinemcgreevy]

I break mine up in 3rds so that Murphy can take bites out at his leisure, never seen him choke.

[TheComputerGremlin]

I just gave some and actually watched Mikey eating, the pieces were probably between small and a third the size of his head. It's really soft, so he just crushed off pieces with his mouth and there were little poofs of calcium dust every time he bit. I don't think they can choke, I'd be more worried about them choking on a pellet.

[AnthonyGarcia]

i fed ollie and stewie some cuttlebone a couple of days ago. i cut them into like 1/3 the size of their heads. a big one got stuck between ollie's neck and left upper left limb and i have to use the tweezers to pull them out. whew.

[SpotsMama]

I use pieces that are around 1/3 or 1/4 of a cuttlebone and clip them to the aquarium wall with a veggie clip. Spot takes bites off it as he feels like it. I don't think he could choke on the little pieces that he bites off. I think I'd worry about a piece getting stuck in his throat if it was just barely small enough for him to get it in his mouth

[DEBRAHG5]

Usually you can give them as much cuttlebone as they can eat. I find they go through "phases" where they eat a lot of cuttlebone, and then they stop eating it for a while.

Just so I am clear--- it doesn't matter how much or how often the turtle eats the cuttlebone, it is ok?

Thanks

[grey goose]

Yep, as much as he wants...my two girls will sometimes eat it everyday, other times they will ignore it.
It seems that even if they get a piece that is much larger than they can handle, they seem to know how to deal with it. Gomie will chomp on a chunk that is bigger than her head, crunch it up and then chase the little bits all around the tank.
You can break it up into bite-sized pieces, or take about 1/3rd and clip it on the side of the tank for him to gnaw at when he feels like it. Just remember to take the hard backing off.