Urgent Care :: eating rocks

[neeners89]

My fiance has had this turtle for 5 years now, he got him as a baby. Just recently, I noticed that he was eating the gravel at the bottom of the tank. At first I thought he would figure it out and spit it back out but he swallowed it. Within 10 minutes he had eaten maybe 4 rocks. I am concerned about him. Both my fiance and I love this turtle very much. I don't want anything to happen to him. I just feel that this is not normal and don't know what to do. Please help me!

[chrisinva]

Gravel is often eaten by turtles from what I have read here...I would get it all out of the tank/pond ASAP and possibly get the turtle to a qualified vet

[Daniel3507]

eating gravel can be deadly. you need to take it out right away. it could become impacted in the intestines and kill your turtle.

[neeners89]

I am getting the gravel out now. Two more questions... Why would he eat gravel? and What do I put in the tank in place of the gravel?

[cprcheetah]

If he's anything like my turtle Zeke, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in the tank is fair game for munching on! Zeke has a BARE tank except for his heater and filter. He EATS ANYTHING I put in it. I've found/heard that turtles like to 'taste' their environment and if they thing it's 'yummy' it goes into their mouth. PLEASE remove the gravel. What type of diet are you feeding him? He may be lacking in something as well if this is a 'new' thing that he's doing.

[PcBuilder14]

A lot of people have sand in their tanks now! They can eat it and it will pass right throught them also.

Here's a link to a sticky on everything you need to know about sand.

http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic ... c4422d9444

[neeners89]

wardley reptile premium sticks NEW & IMPROVED: fortified with calcium, from what I understand that is what he has been eating for years. We also get him fish every once in a while, along with the occasional crayfish. Is this what we should be feeding him?

[neeners89]

There is now no gravel in the tank. It looks so bare. We will now be taking a trip into town tomorrow to get some sand.

[Sk8gal]

Neener89, I would recommend feeding your turtle Reptomin and red-leaf lettuce . Wardley isn't top quality like Reptomin. You should also give Mazuri, but those are hard to find.

Good luck!

[chrisinva]

I use large rocks in mine...It's just a temp 10 gallon tank and the rocks trap junk but I change the water 2 times a week

[PcBuilder14]

If you get a filter like the one I had for my 10 gallon you only have to do 50% water changes every week and every month do a complete cleaning.

I had one of the Power filter 20's so it would be double the needed filtration. Right now mines just sitting under my bed with like 5 cartridges left.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752295

[untsmurf]

I would wait to add the sand until it's been a few weeks and you've had the chance to monitor his waste. If he doesn't get impacted, he'll poop out the gravel he ate. If you leave the tank bare for right now, you'll be able to find the gravel he ate and remove it as well. But if you add sand right away the gravel could be hard to see and he could keep eating it.

I use a combination of Wardley's and Reptomin. But Mikey had only Wardleys for the first three years we had him. It's not low quality, but it's not high quality like reptomin or mazuri.

[PcBuilder14]

I do the same thing, Wardley and Reptomin.