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Hello all!

I awoke this morning to find that Sheldon has possibly bitten chunks of his basking dock off and the pieces were nowhere to be seen. Now I've made an appointment for the vet for next week (I want her to check his scutes too - make sure he's shedding them properly as he hasn't shed one at all yet but he certainly is trying) but I was wondering if there is anything I should be looking out for in case he did swallow them.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I'm worried he's flipped his little cracker as I can't understand why he would take to biting his basking platform. For the record it is a http://www.petco.com/product/12389/Zoo-Med-Turtle-Docks.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Thanks!

Hi cutepanda86

As my experience shows they will try to take a bite from everything. Starting with our fingers and ending with rocks etc.
If you don't see these pieces of bascing dock he probably ate it.Hopefully your little one will start to pass some of the dock.
My turtle ate camping mat:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36847542/IMG_2118.JPG
My turtle's vet gave her mineral oil and luckily every piece of that mat came out.
I hope everything turns out OK.

Hi Madly. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's weird because he's had that dock for almost two years and now he started biting it? With any luck the vet will have some answers next week. Did you take your little one go right away to the vet or did you take the wait and see approach?

I took my turtle right away to the vet...luckily I got appointment fot the vet for next day. Also I was keeping eye on her stool to see is the camping mat coming out or not or can she pass anything. I was afraid that there will be obstruction. Next day on our car ride to the clinic she pooped two times and there was camping mat...yay.
I will remember the face expression of the vet for a long time after that visit when I showed him that piece of mat. His word were "These nematodes are small problem compared to the mat you've ate." He advised me to keep her drydocked and when I put her in the water keep an eye on her that she couldn't recycle her poop. It was a very exhausting week.
I suggest you also keep an eye on Sheldons poop. Scoopit out and don't let him eat that also you can see is there any basking dock pieces. As long as he can pass that and he popps the situation is not the worst.
I collected all these pieces to see how much is still missing or everything is out. I advise you to do the same.

Well last night he pooped something but I wasn't able to get there fast enough and he ate it - which is very nasty btw. I will have to keep an eye on him. Thanks for the advice. With any luck when we see the vet on Monday he'll be fine.

Ah, another reason why I hate these ZooMed docks. Most likely he will pass it without issue.

If Sheldon is dry-docked, he might get a bit stressed and poop. They are much less likely to eat poop when out of water but it will be a freaking mess since they might crawl over it. Just an idea

Good point steve.
My little one did crawlin over it and tried to eat it. One time even she was running away from me with mouth full of...yakk.
Luckily she released her "precious treasure" after I showed her piece of cucumber.

Oh when he is dry-docked he gets very stressed out and he poops everywhere. And yes it's a giant mess. Although if he's pooped already, he probably won't again until I feed him tomorrow. At which point, I will dry dock him when I get home from work (I don't trust him all day by himself).

Madly - that is nasty.

cutepanda86 any updates?

and Madly LOL!

Thanks talal! Sheldon went to the vet and she asked a few questions looked him over and decided that if he was eating and still pooping, we were in good shape. Certainly his appetite has not taken a hit and neither has his spunky attitude so we lucked out. He didn't eat anything big enough.

Thanks again for asking!