Eating the soil

[tarta4ever]

Hi guys have this strange behavior, I think she need minerals integration but there are cuttlebones in the enclosure, what you think?

 

[JoesMum]

What are you using as substrate? Does it have 'bits' in it? Is it damp? Is it packed down well? Do you have a coloured light?

 

[tarta4ever]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wxss0gwnpv2q3k/IMG_0551.MOV?dl=0
it's a strange behavior, i made i video to explain better

 

[JoesMum]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wxss0gwnpv2q3k/IMG_0551.MOV?dl=0
it's a strange behavior, i made i video to explain better

So your substrate looks normal - no white bits. It could be packed down a little harder.

There's no red bulb colouring the substrate red.

Do you use a calcium powder supplement? A tiny pinch should be sprinkled on food 3 times a week.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Miner-al is a popular supplement you can try if your tortoise if substrate eating is occurring.

 

[tarta4ever]

So your substrate looks normal - no white bits. It could be packed down a little harder.

There's no red bulb colouring the substrate red.

Do you use a calcium powder supplement? A tiny pinch should be sprinkled on food 3 times a week.

i leave a whole cuttlebone in the box, my hermann and my redfoot tortoise eat it, and i prefer this way so they could regulate themselves, anyway i reduce the cuttlebox to powder and put it on the food, i'll do it more often.

 

[JoesMum]

i leave a whole cuttlebone in the box, my hermann and my redfoot tortoise eat it, and i prefer this way so they could regulate themselves, anyway i reduce the cuttlebox to powder and put it on the food, i'll do it more often.

If your tort is eating the substrate then it thinks it isn't getting the minerals it needs. I would bury your aversion to supplements for a while and see if a regular dose of powdered calcium (or powdered cuttlebone) or the mineral supplement in SarahChelonoidis' post fixes this.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

If they're mineral deficient, cuttle bone won't help. That's what a mineral supplement is for. Adding more weeds into their diet might help in the long term too.

 

[Tom]

Hi guys have this strange behavior, I think she need minerals integration but there are cuttlebones in the enclosure, what you think?

What are you using for substrate? Is that soil?
What do you typically feed your tortoise?

 

[tarta4ever]

today i ve found some bite on the cuttlebone, i feed them with some spontaneus weeds that grew in my garden (nettle, taraxacum ecc...)