Limestone Flour for Tortoises

CiaranTheGreat

Hi does anyone know where i can buy limestone flour (Calcium Carbonate) in Dublin preferably north-side. I need it for my tortoise to go with her nutribol supplements.

I ordered it online but i'm assume a small bag of white powder in the post was prob seized by customs for testing

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ciaran

tallus

If you can't get your hands on limestone flour, just buy some cuttlefish bone in any pet shop.

CiaranTheGreat

I have a cuttlefish but she doesn't touch it! I scrap It onto her food but thought the powder might be better

Karma25

We had two terrapin turtles and they never touched their bones until one day I checked and the thing was half eaten. They will eat it when they need it.

lrushe

CiaranTheGreat wrote: »

I have a cuttlefish but she doesn't touch it! I scrap It onto her food but thought the powder might be better

The great thing about cuttlefish bone is they will only eat it when they need it. I had a cuttlefish bone in with my Russian for a year before he touched it and then he devoured it in within a month.
I don't like the powder because if you over do it with the powder you can cause kidney stones however with the cuttlefish bone the tort will only it eat it as and when he needs it.

tallus

Mine were the same with the cuttlefish bone, they only ate it when they needed it. Males less than females for obvious reasons.
OP: it's actually quite simple to pair the cuttlefish bone into a powder using a knife ? That's the way I fed it to mine.

CiaranTheGreat

I'm just worried as she has some slight pyramiding from before i got her 3 months ago so I want to make sure she is getting enough calcium! The fact she isn't eating it must mean she has enough I presume!

lrushe

I'd try getting her out into some good sunshine if you can. Calcuim needs Vit D to help it be absorbed into the body, also check to make sure your bulbs are giving still giving out strong UVA/B rays, replace them if they are older than 6 months.
Pyramiding can be caused by a variety of things from poor diet / overfeeding, the wrong substrate or lack of exercise so your torts calcuim levels are really only one of a few things that can cause pyramiding.