eating substrate ... and anything and everything

[marcy4hope]

i have a 4 month old leopard who had been eating his substrate. (i also have a 17 month old sulcata that had been eating his as well.) i bought some miner-all and started them both out with using it daily. now i use it every other day. i just sprinkle some on their food and "toss" their salad to make sure it's all coated good. well, i still see both of my torts eat their substrate once in awhile.

the weird thing though is that my baby leopard always acts like he wants to eat everything. when i was taking him out of his enclosure and soaking him, then i was setting him down on the floor and let him walk around a little before i put him back in his enclosure. i had to quit doing that because he tries to eat the carpet. if i sat him on the linoleum, he tried to eat the pattern on the squares. doesn't matter where i sat him, he had to try and eat the flooring. i'm starting to wonder if he's just an odd duck or what? pretty funny to watch him sometimes, but he also worries me as to whether he'll be smart enough to figure out what's edible and what's not.

so basically i guess i have two questions. i thought the miner-all would make both my torts quite eating their substrate, but doesn't seem like it has done the job. anything else i should try?

second - lol ... well, i'm wondering if my leopard is just stupid or what? lol don't know how else to put it, but i'm wondering if i'm going to constantly have to watch out for this little guy eating everything he encounters.

 

[wellington]

LMAO how dare you, a stupid leopard, not possible LOL I'm kidding. My leopard when younger, not so much now and he is almost two. Used to bite at things that were white or even very light tan. When I used to use spaghnum(?) moss he would eat that. I switched to coconut coir witch is darker and he never tried eating it. He only did this for until about 7-9 months. I still have to watch him if I let him walk around on the red carpet as everything shows up on it. However, he will usually take a sniff and keep moving. Does it seem to be more light colored things?

 

[skottip]

If your substrate is Romaine lettuce and other leafy greens, your tortoise is perfectly normal. lol

 

[marcy4hope]

lol ... well, he's on coco coir, wellington, so no it's not lighter objects that attract him. i saw him again today eating his substrate. and yeah, skottip, i guess i could just keep him on a bed of lettuce and he'd be fine. lol ... i just hope he quits this or i'm not sure how comfortable i'll be with putting him outside for even a few minutes when the weather warms up this summer.

 

[wellington]

How old are they? He's beautiful by the way.

 

[mainey34]

Could they not be getting enough to eat?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Could they not be getting enough to eat?

That's my first question, do they have good available at all times?

Second question would be concerning the substrate, are you certain they're not eating their poop. They do that you know?

 

[marcy4hope]

How old are they? He's beautiful by the way.

he's right around 4 months. the sulcata is approx. 17 months. and thanks!

Could they not be getting enough to eat?

boy, i sure hope they are. they eat a lot. i feed them twice a day. i fill their entire dish each morning and then throw a bit more in when i get home from work, just in case they want more. the leo usually still has some food left when i get home, so i don't always have to add more to his dish. the sulcata usually has some cactus left, so he just finishes that off in the evenings, but i always throw in a few more greens for him as well.

i feed a wide variety of greens, (i supplement with tnt with probiotics every other day, miner-all every other off day that i'm not using the tnt), parsley, spring mix, cilantro, cactus, squash, mushrooms (just to the sulcata), grassland tortoise & mazuri just once a week, and a very rare strawberry. it's too cold in missouri right now for them to get outside and graze, so they aren't getting the grasses right now.

 

[wellington]

I know when my leopard is outside, he likes to eat dirt now and then. Thinking there is something in it they may need. It lots but does. Could it be poop they are eating like Cowboy_Ken mentioned? I would say try a different substrate, but coir is the safest for eating. You leopard is young yet, he may grow out of it like mine did. The sully, not sure. Do they have a cuttle bone in with them? Or maybe get them one of the zoo med tortoise blocks. Tortoisesupply.com sells them http://www.tortoisesupply.com/zoomed-tortoise-block/ Other then what's been mentioned, I don't know what else you could try. Let us know if you try the cuttlebone or tortoise block and if it works or not.

 

[mainey34]

Seems to me that there would not be any kind of defincency. There are supplements. The only other thing might be them eating their feces.

 

[marcy4hope]

i WISH my sulcata was eating his feces. he poops a ton! it could be that the leo is eating some of his because i don't find much in his enclosure. he does poo a LOT when i bathe him 3 times a week, but it is very possible that could be what he's eating in his enclosure. but, still doesn't explain why he can't handle being on carpet without "eating" it. i will try giving him a lot more to eat and see if he cleans it all up or not. although "I" think i feed a lot to them, maybe they need more. so, i will certainly give that a try and see how it goes.

i don't use cuttlebone in the cage because they are already getting calcium in the miner-all every other day. also, my sulcata used to gorge on cuttlebone and he had 4 bladder stones. not saying that was the cause of them, but just to be on the safe side, i stopped using the cuttlebone. i have had some in the leopards enclosure and he never would touch it, so i assumed he's getting enough from the miner-all and so i took it out.

 

[WillTort2]

Sounds like your torts have that all too familiar condition known as "gluttonous maximus".

Make sure they get plenty of exercise and lots of sunshine. .Lots of water available. All should be fine.