Feeding and Nutrition :: Cuttle Bone

[Evelyn]

Hi All,
A couple of weeks ago I found and bought Cuttle Bone sold and made for Turtles. It's sold in a yellow box with two medium pieces of cuttle bone in it. Price $2.00 Well at least now people with turtles will learn turtles need calcium. It is the same cuttle bone that is sold for birds.

Years ago I use to feed my turtles cooked egg shells, boy did they gobble them up. You can feed egg shells to birds to.
Just just never new if the would hurt the turtles but I knew it was safe and healthy for the birds.
Evelyn

[Starchick]

I was disappointed with that, because I assumed when I bought it that if there was a hard backing on the ones for the birds, they'd remove it before selling it for turtles, and not only do they not remove it, they don't tell you to remove it! My turtles wouldn't touch the cuttle until I peeled it off. At least at my petstore, the ones for birds are much cheaper, like 6 for 2 dollars, so I'll probably just go with those next time.

[N4784N R4613]

I don't think they can manufacture it without the hard backing. The whole thing would just brake apart, ether at the factory, or on its way to the pet store.

[pumpkinsherbet]

yeah but they could at least put a label on the packaging to say it is necessary to peel off the plastic backing.

[DavidY]

Thanks for the info about the cooked egg shells! Never thought of that!

[SpotsMama]

Just a little digression here - those cuttlebones aren't manufactured. They are the naturally occuring endoskeletons of cuttlefish. Cuttlefish are like squids. I thought that was kind of neat.

If you ever buy a whole squid for dinner (ie, calamari), when you open it up you'll find a cuttlebone inside.

[DavidY]

mmm, I love calamari!

[N4784N R4613]

Just a little digression here - those cuttlebones aren't manufactured. They are the naturally occuring endoskeletons of cuttlefish. Cuttlefish are like squids. I thought that was kind of neat.

If you ever buy a whole squid for dinner (ie, calamari), when you open it up you'll find a cuttlebone inside.

Oh ok..... eww.

[Cayte923]

Everyone keeps saying "peel" off the backing. For me, at least, there is no peeling. I have to carefully chip it away with a screwdriver and hope the bone doesn't break!

[pumpkinsherbet]

calamari is one of those ''treat foods" for me. i LOVE it more than anything. i assume the way it's made softens up the bone? because i never have a problem with any of that. or is it just in the head part? b/c my calamari tends to be beheaded...

cayte923- i wittle the backing off with my lock knife. you could maybe try that (get one that's small enough so you can grip it properly without hassle). it gets a little time consuming occasionally, but a lot of the time i can peel off big chunks with little effort. you can go various places and get them fairly cheap, the knife i used was purchased at a gas station for $6.99

[DavidY]

Most seafood markets remove the bone before selling them. With smaller whole squid, there's sometimes a clear almost plastic like skeleton in the body (cone head thingy) that pulls right out. I've never had a fresh squid with a full cuttlebone before. There's an animal called a cuttlefish that's closely related to the squid that has a gas-filled skeleton which it uses for buoancy. I think that is where the cuttlebone comes from.

[pitym]

I buy Cuttlebone in bulk at Petco. I have found it easier to get the backing off after soaking a piece in water for a bit, then using a paring knife to peel it off. I do have to chip it off sometimes though.

[SpotsMama]

DavidY, you are correct about the bone in a squid. It's similar to a cuttlebone but not exactly like it, at least where the small squids are concerned. I have bought whole fresh squids around here with the bone still inside. Probably depends on the what kind of market you go to.

[DavidY]

SpotsMama, yea you must be able to get them real fresh, mmm mmm.

[pumpkinsherbet]

i find that fascinating, i really do. ----there was a discussion on cuttlefish/cuttlebone a month or so ago. when spotsmama mentioned cuttlebone in calamari i had assumed she meant the squid equivalent. squid bone doesn't glide as easy