yagyujubei said:I make my own blocks - calcium carbonate and water - and a mold. Mine love 'em.
Ivyna J. Spyder said:I'd like to point out that cuttlebone comes from cuttlefish, which are awesome, and there's really no need for an intelligent animal to die for your tortoise.
Think of the cuttlefish. Use alternative supplements, your tortoise won't know the difference.
TylerStewart said:I've been using them a lot lately, and I like them. The bigger tortoises have been going through them too fast, so I'm mostly using it with smaller ones. A big sulcata could probably swallow one of these whole if it really wanted to (they're only about 4" x 2" x 2"), but on the Testudo, redfoots/cherries and leopards the idea works. Some torts use them more than others, but they've all got little wear and tear bite marks in them after a few days of being in the enclosures.
My only gripe is that some of the pieces (cactus?) inside are big, so it weakens the block's shape. I was throwing a bunch of them out and a few of them broke in half (with interior cactus being the weak point) from a small underhand toss onto dirt or grass. If the cactus and veggies were smaller or ground into part of the powder, I think the block would last a lot longer. They are cheap (few dollars) and the light green color is more pleasant than white cuttlebone that is usually brown within a few days being in an outdoor pen.
The surface of them is much "harder" than a traditional cuttlebone, so if beak trimming or wear is the goal, I think these would work much better than cuttlebone.
For the record, I've seen photos of cuttlebone washing up on the beach by the thousands (I believe it was in some Asian countries), and I'm pretty sure that is how it's harvested. I don't think they go catch and kill the fish to sell their bone for $.25 retail after shipping it to the U.S.
Grigor.Love. said:Do you order them online or purchase them somewhere else?
TylerStewart said:Grigor.Love. said:Do you order them online or purchase them somewhere else?
Well, I bought a bunch wholesale (to sell on my site), but you can probably find them locally for a lower price than if you found a cheap one online and paid shipping on it. I don't know if they've made it to Petco/Petsmart yet, but they'll probably be there eventually.
Grigor.Love. said:I'd like to try this product. Has anyone had any luck?
oscar said:our local petco and petsmart have cuttlebone but they are located in the bird suppply section. I have never got them there cause they were too expensive and were sold in packs of two only.
Tom said:... how come more of you don't come to these things? I have found no better source for learning about tortoises. No offense to TFO, but the room full of people here is awesome. Richard Fife showed us his trip to Ethiopia and the giant Leopards that live there, Jerry Fife showed us all the details of his recent Galopagos hatchlings, we've had two presentations on the four tortoises of Madagascar, plus and extra "Pyxis Summit". Did you know there are an estimated 6.5 million radiateds left in the wild? I didn't. Today we will here from Tomas Dlange from Senegal, who run a sulcata research center there. Apparently, sulcatas are near extinction in the wild. Hey, I know where they can find some replacements...