General Care Discussion :: My turtle keeps eating parts of his turtle dock.

[H15A5H1]

I've noticed that there are chunks of the turtle dock missing in the corner recently. Today i actually saw my turtle eating the edges of the dock.

Should i be worried about his health?

[Bascomb]

H15A5H1 - Most turtles will eat just about anything. The first obvious question would be if you are feeding him enough. The next is what is the dock made of. Some trutles need something to keep them occupied. I had one eat a piece of carpet that I put in to keep his bottom from getting scratched up. It made him constipated and I had to deal with that. b.

[SpotsMama]

I suppose you're talking about one of the zoo med turtle docks? We've seen this happen before. If it's a zoo med dock, it could be that your turtle is craving calcium. Is there a cuttlebone in his tank for him to munch on? If not, I'd advise getting him one.

If he continues to eat the dock even when he has a cuttlebone, you'll have to switch it out to a kind of dock that he can't eat. That dock isn't good for him.

I think Bascomb also has a good point about being bored. In addition to adding a cuttlebone make sure there are some big river rocks on the bottom for him to push around. Plastic plants are good too.

[squall3773]

The same exact thing happened to me, when no signs suggested any reason for it. Nobody actually ingested the dock but just bit at it.
I immedietaly removed it.
its interesting because theyre made for turtles, makes you wonder if they do any testing on these products.

[mikee]

Sq-73 -- I think that the research and developmnt dept, after long meetings and soul searching, decided that if we can fool some of the people some of the time we can make enough money. The turtle be D-----.

[SpotsMama]

My turtle Spot lived with zoo med docks for years and liked them fine - but not so well that he ever tried to eat one. He finally got too heavy and keep sinking the largest one so I switched it out. I really think based on what some of the other people on here have experienced that a turtle eating a turtle dock is probably craving calcium.

[Blue Flamingo]

Put some cuttlle bone in the tank, whenever one of my turtles needs some cuttle bone he starts chomping away at the dock. I heard someone say around here the the docks actuallly contain calcium so thats why the want to eat it. After I put the cuttle bone in he immediately stops eating the dock.

[squall3773]

I havent gotten one in a while, ill definetly get a bunch to keep around the next chance i get.

[Tiny]

I was also wondering about dock eating. I know some sources say that tutles need to have very fine gravel for consumotion, that it aids in digestion, and if small enough in size and quantity, it can be benficial. Is this true, and if so, is it possible that my dock eater, is simply looking for rocks to eat by crumbling the doc and consuming it?

If so, could the rock/dock eating be the sure for turtle indigestion?

[Vtolds]

^well some sources are stupid...gravel is bad it can stop up there digestive system and potentially be fatal. You should never have any rocks that are smaller than your turtles head in the tank so there are no possibilities of eating them. If you want too give your turtle something too chew on get a cuttle bone.

[marisa]

I've read that in the wild some turtles do eat small pebbles, but your turtle doesn't need to (or sand for that matter). It's most likely your turtle is looking for more calcium in his diet, not help in digesting food. Get him some cuttlebone to munch on.

[fryman86]

I recently had this same problem with the zoo med dock. My turt kept biting away at it. I knew I was feeding her enough because I just had to cut back on feeding, since I realized I was feeding too much from reading this site. I got some cuttle bone and took an extra suction cup with a ring that was on an old eater and used it to clip the cuttle bone to the side of the aquarium so that she could get at it. Ever since then I havn't seen her even put her mouth on the dock.

[jtjordan]

same here, but she couldnt break a piece off

[akiyia]

Mine is doing it also. At first I thought he was finding food on the bottom of the
tank. But no I actually watched him do it. Its funny he wasnt doing it
with the other turtle dock by my zoo meds. I thought it was to little so I went out
and brought the big one. He has been eatting on it when food is in his tank also.
I am about to take the dock out and return it. I know that would be terriable
to his health.
Thanks for this post I am glad I am not the only one with this problem!