Turtle eating foam dock: Causes and solutions?

LucidRant · #1 05-17-2011, 05:51 PM

My baby RES has suddenly picked up a very strange habit. He/she seems to enjoy biting at parts of her floating turtle dock. In all the time I've had her, she's never attempted to do this before, so I'm curious as to what the cause is now.

She's still very small, so thankfully she's unsuccessful at biting off parts of it. But I'm worried about impaction. I originally thought that it might be boredom or hunger. I've switched up her tank a few times to keep things interesting, and I've also upped her food intake. She still seems content to try and bite at the dock. I then assumed it might be something to do with supplements. However, she's on a weekly supplement plan and has access to a cuttlebone at all times.

I would like to ultimately remove the dock all together, but I'm in the process of building her a sturdier and bigger habitat, so the dock needs to stay for now.

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem with their RES or any other turtle? Is it something I should be worried about? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get her to stop trying to make a snack of her turtle dock?

Any and all replies wanted and appreciated!

Teckdragon · #2 05-18-2011, 11:51 AM

It could very simply be that your animal is bored. What else is in the tank?

It is also possible that the turtle is "teething" of sorts since it's so small. Try putting in some cuttlebones (HerpSupplies.com - Cuttlebone, Large (5pcs) - ...) for it to attack.

Lastly, consider a different type of dock. The Exo Terra magnetic dock (HerpSupplies.com - Turtle Bank - Hagen - Turtle Bank - Exo Terra Turtle Bank is a unique floatation basking area f...) is made of resin and is entirely turtle-bite proof.

LucidRant · #3 05-18-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teckdragon

It could very simply be that your animal is bored. What else is in the tank?

It is also possible that the turtle is "teething" of sorts since it's so small. Try putting in some cuttlebones (HerpSupplies.com - Cuttlebone, Large (5pcs) - ...) for it to attack.

Lastly, consider a different type of dock. The Exo Terra magnetic dock (HerpSupplies.com - Turtle Bank - Hagen - Turtle Bank - Exo Terra Turtle Bank is a unique floatation basking area f...) is made of resin and is entirely turtle-bite proof.

Thank you for the reply!

She has the dock, along with a multi-layered rock decoration that she likes to swim through and sit on. When she was even smaller she had other things in the tank, but now that she's bigger I wanted her to have adequete swimming room. Maybe I'll add back a decoration or two.

I'm definitely going to look into that turtle dock. Thank you for the link!

Teckdragon · #4 05-18-2011, 01:54 PM

Be sure to offer a variety of foods as well. I offer mine live minnows, snails, shrimp, and crayfish, as well as a variety of greens. How big is the enclosure?

LucidRant · #5 05-21-2011, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teckdragon

Be sure to offer a variety of foods as well. I offer mine live minnows, snails, shrimp, and crayfish, as well as a variety of greens. How big is the enclosure?

It's a 20 gal long. The turtle is just about 2 in. along the length of the shell.

I'll definitely up the food variety. Thanks for the suggestion!