Why is my red eared slider eating the rocks in her tank?
by Aquaboy on Friday, April 16th, 2010 | 7 Comments
We feed her the pellets that the pet store gave us every day along with feeder fish a couple times a week but she has started eating the rocks at the bottom of her tank. Is it possible that she is eating them because there is food particles on them? What hazards are there besides choking that this could cause her? Thanks for your help.
if you mean that you have gravel on the bottom of your tank, yes your turt will eat this. it doesnt mean they are hungry, etc. its just something they seem to like to do. when my first turt was a baby i had gravel in her tank, and she would always chew on the gravel (she was too small to swallow it yet). but when they are big enough they do indeed swallow it. you should take it out of your tank because it can cause your turtle to become impacted. besides, w/out it in the tank its also easier to clean the tank.
Turtles know how to eat food particles without eating the gravel. I would recomend taking the gravel out because if it is swallowed it can cause the turtle to die b/c they can’t digest it.
Take the gravel out now! I’ve seen it kill turtles! No loose stuff in the tank that can be swallowed.
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm
Mine does the same thing. Only put in rocks large enough that they can’t eat them.
My turtle also used to eat the gravel in her tank, so i had to take it out, you should too.
All turtles eat gravel to help grind up their food like birds . If the gravel is too big yes it will kill them . I put some bird gravel in ,it works.
they are all wrong. ur turtle will not die from eating the gravel turtles purposley eat gravel to help grind up food so its easier to digest