Does eating small stones every now and then offer any health benefits?
 

I have noticed my horsfield sometimes eats a small stone every now and then i know this is fine as long as they are passed which they are I was just simply wandering if eating these has any health benefit to tortoises. I thought it might clear out their system or something. I was wandering if someone could tell me if there is any health benefit to this?
Thanks

I would be worried if i knew my torts were eating stones, as if they dont pass they may cause serious problems to the tort

My thbs eat stones, one in particular goes out looking for them constantly!! I caught her yesterday trying to eat a huge one! I now break up bits of cuttlefish to resemble stones and place them in her fave hunting ground and she happily eats them instead

My theory is that they are either looking for calcium -emmajh's suggestion is a great one - or the stones are an aid to digestion

I will try this with my tort thanks:razz:

My horsfield elvis used to do this all the time, he loves white ones so probably is a calcium thing tho he has never bothered with his cuttlefish fish even tho I always give him some

one of my torts passed a huge stone the other day, it was a brown one with jagged edges

...Ouchie :o

My torts never ever bother with a cuttle fish in fact they trample in! But if I break it up to stone size pieces some big some small and leave it outside in the pouring rain and mud they are quite happy to eat it then!

Well I guess they do in the wild as there's no-one there to tell them not to! I guess they actually eat all manner of stuff in a rough mediterranean/ Afghan etc terrain. I mostly leave them to it unless it's obviously sharp or jagged. My 4 year old spurthigh passed 14 medium sized stones leading up to hibernation last year! Because I know she has this habit I always give her fibre pellets in the weeks leading up to it as this smoothes the passage!!