Eating dirt

[rideburton87]

Everytime I put my 5 month old leopard tortoise in his outside pen he runs to the parts where there's lose dirt and starts to take bites out of it. Last time he was out he ate about three bites of dirt and my question is will this cause any health problems such as impaction?

 

[theelectraco]

I wouldn't allow it to eat the dirt. A little here and there won't hurt but regularly, is not good. It may be missing minerals in his diet and that is why he is eating the dirt.

 

[ascott]

If he is consuming bucket loads then there is something either lacking in his diet OR that is a really tasty piece of land....

I would keep him hydrated and not be overly concerned at a few bites here and there---they do eat earth/soil to get a variety of benefits from it....if you have all sand in your outdoor enclosure I then would not allow him access to eating straight sand...

---

also....how often do you offer food to him in a day? how much do you offer at each offering? Do you offer an alternate source of calcium? like a cuttle bone or calcium block?

 

[Puckles🐢]

Try either putting something on top of the loose dirt like a flower pot or bricks, maybe even a hideout but don't let him keep eating dirt it Can cause health issues of this I a regular routine. Try getting cuttlebone for your tortoise to chew on, if he will eat dirt he will probably eat anything. Can you move your enclosure some where else away from the dirt too? Or provide some sort of mineral supplement to his diet, like "miner-all"

 

[ascott]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...4Eo2ujALAlYG4Cw&sqi=2&ved=0CFoQ9QEwCA&dur=610

Check this pic out....if you notice, it is amazing---wild torts live on and in dirt---so, dirt is safe, it is aok for a few bites of earth/soil for a well hydrated tort....and if you are concerned with hydration, check out this one...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2012/entries/179958/view/

 

[rideburton87]

Yeah he has a very good diet as I do spend a lot of time on this forum reading up on everything I could imagine. He has a cuttle bone in his chamber indoors, nothing out doors yet I suppose I throw one out there. As for moving the enclosure its build out of stone and permanently into the ground. We have a lot of predators here and I wanted to make something that was totally escape and predator proof. Its weird though because he doesn't even look at the dirt in his chamber its only when he goes out doors. He does graze on the weeds and grass but he seems to always need to take a bite of dirt before hand. I'm going to look into the "miner-all", thanks.

As for food, there is always food available. I feed him everyday and he has grass/weeds that grow naturally in the chamber he can graze on as he pleases.

 

[ascott]

Sounds good, I would not be worried then... like I said a bite or so is not a bad thing...

 

[Puckles🐢]

Yeah he has a very good diet as I do spend a lot of time on this forum reading up on everything I could imagine. He has a cuttle bone in his chamber indoors, nothing out doors yet I suppose I throw one out there. As for moving the enclosure its build out of stone and permanently into the ground. We have a lot of predators here and I wanted to make something that was totally escape and predator proof. Its weird though because he doesn't even look at the dirt in his chamber its only when he goes out doors. He does graze on the weeds and grass but he seems to always need to take a bite of dirt before hand. I'm going to look into the "miner-all", thanks.

As for food, there is always food available. I feed him everyday and he has grass/weeds that grow naturally in the chamber he can graze on as he pleases.

That is weird haha, okay I geuss that makes sense on the enclosure I watched something in animal planet once about predators and a coyote jumped like 9 feet off the ground on a picket fence to the backyard or something it was astonishing