CuttleBone For Turtles??

[reptileguy2727]

Oddball: I know. That doesn't mean they get it through their shell, which was my point. Most high quality foods have calcium and Vitamin D3 supplements. And if you have turtles you should have basking areas with proper lighting (heat and UVB). So that is not really an issue. The point is that besides them chewing on it to keep their beak down or them swallowing it and therefore getting calcium from it, cuttlebones are useless. They can't do either of these with ti in the filter.

JEAE21: Don't worry about ReptoMin, it is not worth your money. Zoo Med is good though, as is Hagen NutraFin Max Turtle Gammarus Pellets, and others as well.

And those sulfa blocks are also a waste of money. They do not make a difference. And if you are keeping sulfur in your water all the time, when the turtles do get sick, the infection (whether fungal, bacterial, etc.) will be resistant to sulfur now. So it actually can make things harder for you and the turtle long term. What prevents infections? Clean water (lots of big water changes and lots of filtration).

 

[Vicious_Fish]

EAE21: Don't worry about ReptoMin, it is not worth your money. Zoo Med is good though, as is Hagen NutraFin Max Turtle Gammarus Pellets, and others as well.

Once again, that is your opinion. I've been using it for ever and I have had no problems with it.

 

[reptileguy2727]

Yes, but maybe that is why you aren't too thrilled about an all pellet diet. The higher quality pellets (in relation to ReptoMin, whereever it stands) are better. I have always gotten much better results with them than with ReptoMin. That is why I suggest spending hard earned money on the better stuff.

Is that the only pellet you use? If not, what others do you use?

 

[estuary]

Oddball: The point is that besides them chewing on it to keep their beak down or them swallowing it and therefore getting calcium from it, cuttlebones are useless. .

sounds useful to me

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Well I gave my painted's away about 5 years ago. But when I bred painted turtles I also gave them Koi & Cichlid pellets from time to time. In reality all pellets are basically the same, ground up fish heads, cornmeal with some minerals added. But you really should substitute other things in a turtles diet. I mean how many different species of turtles did the guys at the ZooMed (or any other brand) lab actually do a study with? Probably just Red-eared Sliders because they're the most commonly kept species. What works for them doesn't work for all species.

 

[Miguel]

i agree with Seth...Beyond pellets ( which in my case are not staple ) i feed them a lot of diff things, such as mussels, shrimp, fw fish, squid, very rarely red meat, a pellet now and then....

and the squid i feed goes in with the cuttlebone and my musks and snappers just do short work of all that....

 

[reptileguy2727]

They are all similar, but if you compare the ingredients of low quality and high quality pellets, there is a significant difference. But yes, if they studied one or the other, it may not be the best for them all. However, a mix of high quality pellets is what worked best for me for all my turtles. That includes painteds, maps, RES, yellow belly sliders, red belly sliders, a common snapper, and probably a couple others. Again, lots of things work, there is no question there, it is only figuring out the subtle long term trends that determine which is the best.

For the cuttlebone my point was that there is absolutely no use for it in your filter.

 

[JEAE21]

I mean how many different species of turtles did the guys at the ZooMed (or any other brand) lab actually do a study with? Probably just Red-eared Sliders because they're the most commonly kept species. What works for them doesn't work for all species.

I agree Vicious, I'm pretty sure they didn't test with Sonora Mud Turtles or Fly River Turtles.lol

Miguel; oh yeah cuttlebone IS squid huh?! so do cuttlefish and other squid, have calcium in it naturally?

reptileguy2727; what is a high quality pellet for turtle?

AND HELP!! I just noticed that there were some stuff floating on the top of the tank and I realized that it was BITS OF THE FLOATING TURTLE DOCK..
Is my turtle using the dock as a cuttlebone?? I really need to go get one this weekend.
but should I put some in the filter AND have some floating around????

 

[JEAE21]

Some species are adapted to feed on tough chitonous prey. These turtles can be prone to overgrowing their beaks. Providing tough foods like smal crayfish, thin-shelled mussels, raw market shrimp, snails, etc can help them in keeping their beaks nicely trimmed.

Hi mine is a Sonora Mud Turtle but do mud turtles in general eat hard foods usually?

i can't find any crawdads so would ghost shrimp do; or are they too soft?

 

[reptileguy2727]

Cuttlebone will be nothing but a waste of money in the filter.

High quality foods are Zoo Med and Hagen NutraFin Max Turtle Gammarus. Low quality ones are ReptoMin and Wardley.