safina eating her substrate

[moswen]

Hi all my sulcata baby safina has begun eating her substrate indoors and out, inside she's on cypress mulch and outside it's organic soil from miracle grow. She has a cuttlebone in her indoor enclosure and I haven't seen her eat that and ayana and moswen are not doing this, and safina is still eating her regular food as well, but the thing that worries me most is that I've caught her trying to eat some masking tape where I taped over a hole in her outdoor pool and a piece of dog poop while on one of her outdoor excursions... I've started giving her timothy hay two days ago thinking she needed something hard in her diet but so far she hasn't touched it. Help?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Sulcatas hatchlings typically won't like the hays or grasses until they are a bit older--more of a spring mix lettuce sort of diet is more liked. The timothy hay provides a good hiding spot in the meatime. Once she is a year or two old, you can start offering soft hay with the food to introduce it to her, but most people don't have any luck getting them to eat hay or graze until then. Early introduction to small amounts is good though.

The substrate eating does worry me. How much are we talking about? More than a few bites and I'd want to change it, because even the safest substrate like dirt isn't good to be eaten all day long. I would soak the tort eating the substrate more to encourage drinking to move it through, and change it to anything she has shown to not eat (or try something new).

Don't have anything in her reach that she shouldn't eat such as tape or dog poop. Think of her as a baby--you need to baby proof the enclosures. If your dogs have heartworm meds or other meds, their poop could be toxic to your tort. Even if they don't take meds, their poop has parasites unnatural to torts that can sicken your tort, so I would never allow a tort to eat any poop besides their own (which sadly is natural for them to do). All torts should have a yearly fecal test for parasites (and a fecal test when you receive them with a follow up 3-4 months later to catch parasites in different lifecycles) at the vet in my opinion.

What does she eat? Do you think she is getting enough to eat? The mulch isn't too large of pieces for her to eat? Have you used anything in the past she has not eaten? Does the soil have the little white balls in it?

Eating substrate can be due to:

1. test out if it is food (typically a couple bites and then they stop, but from what you say this sounds like more)
2. a mineral deficiency (providing cuttlebone and a varied diet can help this)
3. a hungry tort (maybe the other torts are stealing all the food, or you aren't offering something she likes--keep her separate for a litttle while so you can keep an eye on intake for a bit and figure out a substrate she won't eat)
4. or a curious tort (this type will tend to eat almost all substrates, so you may have to experiment quite a bit and have something with too large of particles to eat, but still allow them to walk well and not be off balance).