Good grief, tortoise eating "ancient seabed?"

[RosemaryDW]

My outdoor Russian has had access to perhaps a hundred foods this year, between our yard, what I pick, and what I get at our Asian farmers' market. Most of which she has eaten with gusto.

Lately I've found her taking a bite ot of what isn't exactly rock, but what was seabed at one time. It's easy to notice here, as we are so close to the ocean and frequently works it way up through the topsoil we had brought in when we landscaped our garden. It's "made" of dead algae and the shells of tiny animals. You can crumble it quite easily, it's not a rock, per se. She's now preferring it over cuttlefish bone.

I can't quite believe she's isn't getting enough minerals or calcium in her diet but perhaps I'm wrong. I can't think why'd she'd eat it otherwise. Or perhaps the calcium and other things in it are just what she needs, in a different form?

Thoughts? I'm willing to find a way to as Miner-all to her food but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it's ok for her to eat it.

 

[wellington]

Well, I found by accident that my torts really like dried krill I spilled once. Oyster shell is a good source of calcium, seaweed is good for humans and all the other little shelled critters and fish smell that's in it, well I would t think to be bad. I don't think I would worry unless he's not eating other things too.

 

[MPRC]

Do you have any idea of how much of it your tort is eating?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

My outdoor Russian has had access to perhaps a hundred foods this year, between our yard, what I pick, and what I get at our Asian farmers' market. Most of which she has eaten with gusto.

Lately I've found her taking a bite ot of what isn't exactly rock, but what was seabed at one time. It's easy to notice here, as we are so close to the ocean and frequently works it way up through the topsoil we had brought in when we landscaped our garden. It's "made" of dead algae and the shells of tiny animals. You can crumble it quite easily, it's not a rock, per se. She's now preferring it over cuttlefish bone.

I can't quite believe she's isn't getting enough minerals or calcium in her diet but perhaps I'm wrong. I can't think why'd she'd eat it otherwise. Or perhaps the calcium and other things in it are just what she needs, in a different form?

Thoughts? I'm willing to find a way to as Miner-all to her food but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Limestone flour comes in various grades of grind from as fine as flour up to and including limestone rock chunks used in landscape stones. This is what I've used for years. The flour is this, according to Wikileaks's search; Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This is what I use for all my tortoise, from hatchlings where I sprinkle it on the food one or two times a week to a large pile that I leave in the outdoor for free grazing and munching which the do on their own.

 

[RosemaryDW]

This is what I use for all my tortoise

Woot! I'm using what the professionals use! Let's pretend I did it on purpose.