Mud turtle is eating gravel???

Moozillion

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I really don't know what to think.
I caught my Mississippi mud turtle, Millie, appearing to intentionally eat pieces of gravel in her tank. When I saw it the first time, I thought maybe she was getting carried away trying to get worm bits since she appeared to be picking up bits of gravel right where I had fed her an earthworm just a few hours before.
But tonight I just found her with a piece of gravel in her mouth, trying to chomp on it, and finally SWALLOWING it!
WHAT THE HECK??!?!??

I just gave her more food pellets in case she's hungry (but I fed her a few hours ago, so I don't really think so-)
And I floated a cuttle bone in her tank, but so far she's avoiding it.

Anybody have experience with an aquatic turtle intentionally eating gravel??!?!? :confused:
 

Moozillion

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Just as some followup- she's definitely not hungry because she didn't touch the food I gave her, and wandered off to a different part of the tank. I'm still baffled: i watched her swallow a piece of gravel just a little while ago, but she doesn't seem hungry...o_O
 

Bébert81

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Turtles are used to eat gravel/sand to help us to digest. It's an additionnal mecanichal action helping the digestion.
That's why substrate is very important. Need to avoid quartz and couloured sand for a natural sand like they can find in their natural habitat.
 

Moozillion

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Thanks so much, mark1:):<3: and Bébert81!!! :):<3:

The streams and bayous here that are their natural habitat have sandy bottoms, so I will replace the gravel with sand!!!
 

Toddrickfl1

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I've seen my little sliders doing the same when I had gravel. I would even find little pieces of gravel up on the basking dock they had pooped out. Switched to River rocks, problem solved. You can get a large bag at home Depot for a few bucks.
 

Moozillion

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I've seen my little sliders doing the same when I had gravel. I would even find little pieces of gravel up on the basking dock they had pooped out. Switched to River rocks, problem solved. You can get a large bag at home Depot for a few bucks.

Thanks, Toddrickfl1! [emoji2][emoji173]️
 

Lrodmyre

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I'm with @mark1 on this @Moozillion. I use larger stones in my smaller tanks. No worry about swallowing, you don't need as many, very easy to clean in a rubbermaid bin and some bleach water to get rid of any algae.

I do have sand as the bottom of my 8 foot tank, but I also have bottom feeding fish in there to help keep it clean.
 

mark1

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Gravel is not so good because it becomes a bacterias nest very quickly even if you have a good filter.
For me the best thing for a good maintain is to copy the natural habitat. :)


you are correct it makes a pretty good bacteria nest , I use it as a biological filter bed , every little bit helps ……. works pretty well for me ………… I even dig a hole/deeper spot in my ponds , put the pump in the hole , cover with stainless steel mesh , cover that with gravel so the water is pulled through the gravel ......I almost never clean the ponds or my aquariums , the water is impeccable , always …… I use gravel in the filter , I run the water through or over gravel everywhere I can , I believe that to be natural ..…….
 

Bébert81

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you are correct it makes a pretty good bacteria nest , I use it as a biological filter bed , every little bit helps ……. works pretty well for me ………… I even dig a hole/deeper spot in my ponds , put the pump in the hole , cover with stainless steel mesh , cover that with gravel so the water is pulled through the gravel ......I almost never clean the ponds or my aquariums , the water is impeccable , always …… I use gravel in the filter , I run the water through or over gravel everywhere I can , I believe that to be natural ..…….
For mine I'm using lava stones like pouzzolan, works so nice ! :)
Something like that in a flowerpot, very cheap and works very well.
1316529520.jpg
 

mark1

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i use lava rock in the filters themselves along with matala , those ceramic rings , the plastic balls and zeolite , i'm told they're all better surfaces for bacteria than plain gravel...…... I'm thinking they would not be an appropriate substrate for the tank itself ? possibly zeolite would be ok , and I have used matala under the gravel as a filter plate …...……. personally i'm not a fan of sand , the black smelly anaerobic pockets it gets I just don't like …..……..
 

Moozillion

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i use lava rock in the filters themselves along with matala , those ceramic rings , the plastic balls and zeolite , i'm told they're all better surfaces for bacteria than plain gravel...…... I'm thinking they would not be an appropriate substrate for the tank itself ? possibly zeolite would be ok , and I have used matala under the gravel as a filter plate …...……. personally i'm not a fan of sand , the black smelly anaerobic pockets it gets I just don't like …..……..
I wonder about the sand myself- BUT Millie has only 3 feet: some unidentified predator attacked her in the wild when she was a hatchling last year and bit off her right foot. The lady who rescued and originally fostered her said that the bone of that leg was exposed. Although she's healed wonderfully, that stump is just skin that has grown over bone. I don't know if a rocky tank bottom would be more difficult for her (pressure on the amputation stump) than sand would? And down here, we have almost no stones: all our bayous, rivers, creeks and lakes have sandy or silty bottoms- so sand would be her natural substrate in the wild...o_O

I'm currently thinking to try HALF the tank in sand and HALF in calico stone. I'll be able to see how she navigates on both, notice which one she might appear to prefer, and then change the tank over to that...o_O
 

ZEROPILOT

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you are correct it makes a pretty good bacteria nest , I use it as a biological filter bed , every little bit helps ……. works pretty well for me ………… I even dig a hole/deeper spot in my ponds , put the pump in the hole , cover with stainless steel mesh , cover that with gravel so the water is pulled through the gravel ......I almost never clean the ponds or my aquariums , the water is impeccable , always …… I use gravel in the filter , I run the water through or over gravel everywhere I can , I believe that to be natural ..…….
Cool idea.
It mimics the UNDER GRAVEL filters we all used in the 70s and 80s
 

Bébert81

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i use lava rock in the filters themselves along with matala , those ceramic rings , the plastic balls and zeolite , i'm told they're all better surfaces for bacteria than plain gravel...…... I'm thinking they would not be an appropriate substrate for the tank itself ? possibly zeolite would be ok , and I have used matala under the gravel as a filter plate …...……. personally i'm not a fan of sand , the black smelly anaerobic pockets it gets I just don't like …..……..
Yep I dit it in the past too, putting them on small bags for wash taps to clean them easily.
Lava rocks aren't appropriate for substrate because they can damage with irritation turtles feet.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Yep I dit it in the past too, putting them on small bags for wash taps to clean them easily.
Lava rocks aren't appropriate for substrate because they can damage with irritation turtles feet.
I agree about the lava rock causing some problems with irritation. I'd worry about the rough surface scratching the turtle's plastron.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I wonder about the sand myself- BUT Millie has only 3 feet: some unidentified predator attacked her in the wild when she was a hatchling last year and bit off her right foot. The lady who rescued and originally fostered her said that the bone of that leg was exposed. Although she's healed wonderfully, that stump is just skin that has grown over bone. I don't know if a rocky tank bottom would be more difficult for her (pressure on the amputation stump) than sand would? And down here, we have almost no stones: all our bayous, rivers, creeks and lakes have sandy or silty bottoms- so sand would be her natural substrate in the wild...o_O

I'm currently thinking to try HALF the tank in sand and HALF in calico stone. I'll be able to see how she navigates on both, notice which one she might appear to prefer, and then change the tank over to that...o_O
I like the idea of using sand as substrate for part of the tank. For Bold and Pinstripe's new tank, we will eventually put some different surfaces on the bottom, but we want to make sure the turtles get at least some portion that is just sand.

I think sometimes they just like being able to move it around and really kick it up into an underwater dust cloud. I get the feeling, in nature, they probably use it like a magician's smoke bomb to distract from a potential conflict and make a quick exit.

In a pinch, I think that "sand cloud shuffle" helps to maintain the peace in our three-striped mud turtle tank.
 

Moozillion

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Yes- Jacques LOVED the sand in her original set up!i I’m going to use pool filter sand in Millie’s tank in place of the gravel. Of course, then I can’t use the undergravel filter and will switch back to a canister...
 
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