eating cyprus mulch

[sooz]

i bought some cypress mulch and put it in a small patch of the cage as they havent had it before, they kind of sniffed it, tried to eat it but looked like they didn't really like it as food. so i put the rest in, thinking they wouldn't eat it, and now concrete seems to have decided he wants to eat all of it. will it hurt him if he eats it?

 

[Yvonne G]

The mulch itself isn't toxic, and if you keep your tortoises well hydrated it should just pass right through. But on occasion, a tortoise will swallow something too large to pass through. In that case, yes, it would be harmful.

I like to use a product made by Sticky Tongue Farms called Miner-all. It is a powder that you sprinkle over their food every so often and it contains various minerals that might be missing from a tortoise's diet ( one reason they eat dirt, etc).

 

[pandacakes]

I just changed over to cyprus mulch a couple weeks ago and at first all he did was sniff and eat it but after about a week he finally lost interest in it. WHEW!

 

[sooz]

cool, its just so annoying that i tested it and then he changed his mine after i put it all in!