Feeding and Nutrition :: turtle with compulsive eating

[my_manuelita_turtle]

First when I got my tutle, she barely ate. Now... she just cant stop eating. On sunday I did a partial cleaning and I also put in the water the calcium things that has the shape of a turtle and is supposed to kill bad bacteria. On monday the calcium turtle, had no legs... On thursday it had no head, so then I saw my turtle devorating it, I hide it but she figured out the way to take it out again. Yesterday, I made a new baking dock and it also has a "beach" part", a place with sand so she can relax there. I put her there but she went bak to the water so some sand got to the bottom of the tank. I feed her 3 pellets in the morning and 3 at night. After she ate, I saw her eating the sand that was in the bottom of the tank. I was a really small amount but... what is wrong with her!!! Eating sand... Eating the calcium block.. I gave her cuttle bone yerterday, just in case she´s looking for calcium. But she has guppies in the tank, and she wont eat the or the pleco...

Can she get sick if she eats the calcium turtle?

[Bumby's Mom]

If I were you I would call a hrep vet ans ask if you can bring in a fecal sample. They will check that for parasites. Parasties will make them extremely hungry and they will feel like they aren't getting any food because the parasites are taking all the nutrition. I don't know about the calcium. Do you feed it veggies? Also those turtle blocks I think are phosphur and everyone on here says not to use them.

[kaimarion]

You should feed all her pellets during the one meal or so I think...haven't talked about turtles in a wee while , do you give her any pellets with a calcium suplement on them???

[SpotsMama]

It's ok to give your turtle pellets in the morning and pellets in the evening IF you don't give them too much overall. In other words, they can have one big meal a day or two little ones. How long is your turtle? Do you know about the hollow head rule?

Does your turtle eat veggies like lettuce?

You can lose that sulfa block. My turtle once ate part of a sulfa block (that's what that turtle shaped thing is) and he had really bad diarrhea for several days then got over it. You really don't need that block. If you keep the tank clean then bad bacteria won't be a problem. If you give your turtle sulfa all the time, then it won't be effective as a medicine when he really needs it if he gets sick.

I'd also lose the sand. There are lots of other options for basking area surfaces. What is your basking area made of? A little sand probably won't hurt your turtle but if he eats too much it can stop him up kind of like gravel.

The cuttlebone is a really good idea. Sometimes it takes a turtle a while to figure out how good cuttlebone is, but eventually they all come around. So don't give up if your turtle doesn't start nibbling on it right away.

Turtles are natural beggers when it comes to food. When they are healthy they make a big fuss whenever their keeper comes around hoping to get more and more food. Also, sometimes they seem hungrier than other times for no particular reason. My turtle was always a fairly picky eater but for the past couple of months he's been eating everything in sight. I don't know why - maybe he's just bored. He's been checked for parasites and doesn't have any. The challenge is to not let your turtle's begging persuade you to give him more food than is good for him.

I think having your turtle checked for parasites is always a very good idea. If it turns out he has them, then you'll be glad you caught it early as parasites can do a lot of damaged if left untreated for a long time.

[Cramer]

sounds like a normal turtle to me....