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so, my two hatchlings have a substrate-free tank, and thus, their poop is very noticable on the botton of the tank. they like to poop in one particular corner, of course, as far away from the filter as possible. i have caught both of them eating it though. this cant be good for them?

to solve this problem i bought a mystery snail, hoping it would get to it before the turtles did, but that has not helped much.

they have a balenced diet, reptomin once daily (size of their heads) fed in seperate container. and organic dandilion leaves every other day (they just nibble). and once a week, one rosey red, although they havent been able to catch one yet.

and i clean the tank frequently.

i bought exo terra biotize waste degrader (has a cute little turtle on the box) and was wondering if i should use it or just return it.

the directions say:

"• Eliminates organic waste build-up in gravel, filters and on submersed surfaces
• Reduces odors
• Solubilizes organic waste

Biotize helps eliminate organic waste in reptile habitat water parts. (e.g. turtle aquariums, snake bowls or amphibian water parts). It efficiently reduces solid waste and leftovers in the water from overfeeding. Use Biotize to complement filters for beneficial bacteria build-up and to reduce odors associated with decaying waste. Solubilized waste becomes a food source for beneficial bacteria introduced by adding Biotize.
Biotize includes 4 strains of micro-organisms, selected for their ability to biodegrade proteins, fats, carbohydrates and certain hydrocarbons. Only contains Class 1 micro organisms, which are classified non-pathogenic. Bacterial Community Includes: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus subtilis (2 strains) and Bacillus licheniformis."
(copied from website.)

You can use the biotize stuff (a lot of people on here seem to use it) and im pretty sure they don't eat there poop because they are hungry but because of boredem.

yeah it bugs me to watch them do that! i just want to say stop that! thats nasty! i need to put something in the tank to keep them from being bored. the snail worked for a while.

My snail only moves at night, when does your snail move (I have a black mystery snail)? Also, I use that product because whenever I use the cleaning thing to suck stuff out, I guess the poop is just too dense as it will not get sucked up...I have tried netting the turd out, however, that technique failed.

my snail moves mostly at night, and sometimes during the day. it has a little "trap door" that is hard and will close up when it is not active. i often find that snail in really strange places, like under the floating dock and my turtles generally leave it alone.

All the turtles eat their poop. It's normal. Ugggg! Sometimes I race to try to get it with the net before Spot notices it. I use Turtle Clean by Nutrafin. I think it's exactly the same thing except it's a liquid. I've also got three large minnows in the tank and, I think between the minnows and the Turtle Clean (and Spot of course) they manage to keep any accumulations from building up.

thanks i'll add the biotize tonight. i also bought two more large (biggest i could find) snails to add to the tank. i went to petco today and i saw 5 6-7 inch RES there! but two had shell rot and it was sad i asked them about the shell and the light they were using. i was glad to hear that they ahd been taking them to the vet to fix the shell. they said they were using a full spectrum light for basking.

all of the fish tanks were filthy tho! pure green! bleh! smelly too. i was not impressed.

I'm not impressed to hear they're using a "full spectrum light" either. Usually that means no UVB. However, if they really are using a good bulb - like an MVB - then I take it back!

I gotta take pics at the Petco near me. They seem to do fairly well in the grand scheme of things. The tanks are very clean, and the turtle tank has to be about 100 gallons with a MVB bulb and tons of basking room. Of course there are usually 10-12 sliders in there from 4-6 inches. It's not enough space, but they do seem to be better than lots of others. They even give them all the aquatic plants that are ok to eat when they get a little ratty looking.

the tank at the petco was very large, i say 100G but i dont know what the bulb was and i couldnt tell if the water was clean or not, but if it were as bad as the fish tanks then thats horrible. on all of the fish tanks, you could barely see the grevel under the layer of green slime.

The Petco and Petsmart near us keep their fish water clean and they don't tell aquatic turtles. They both sell some other reptiles and, so far as I can tell (I don't know much about it) the habitats look fine.

Unfortunately all turts go after their poop & tend to eat it. It's just a turtle thing to do, for some reason.

On the other hand, I am a big fan of the "biotize" and other waste degraders on the market because when you have a turtle as big as mine, the waste piles up fast! Monthly water changes & weekly filter changes aren't enough sometimes!

You could just get a turkey baster and suction out the poop in the area where they poop. They're great for smaller turtles' poop and getting into corners.

i am sure my dad will appriciate that! (not) hes the chef in our house. i might buy one.

Yes, I think marisa meant to use a separate turkey baster from the one you use for the turkey.