My merauke won't stop eating her cypress mulch?

[awkwardpossum]

So I'm getting kind of concerned. Literally every time Shifty makes a poo, there's always at least one decent sized chunk of cypress mulch mixed in with it. And I mean IN the turd; like, it's a turd with a cypress chunk core, basically. She hasn't had any issues so far, but i'm kind of worried that it's only a matter of time before she gets impacted by it :X

I don't know if she's actively eating it, or just accidentally picking some up with her tongue when she explores her tank/burrows...? It happens so consistently I'm kind of suspecting the former. I do not feed her in her tank. I always take her out for her meals, and I feed her about twice a week (or every 5 days or so). She's about 1 y. and 8 months old. She gets about half a toy-breed sized can of Merrick dog food (usually the "cowboy cookout" or "puppy plate" flavors, so. Mostly chicken or beef mixed with various veggies), and I mix that with shredded mustard greens and a small helping of whatever fruits I have around the house.

Should I change her substrate? Feed her more frequently? I'm really scratching my head over this one.

[kingofnobbys]

Remove the stuff . It's an impaction hazard.

[Bluetongueskinkguy]

I agree remove it but just make an area with it so he can still burrow but can't spread it around the tank and block it off with a peice of wood and have a way for him to get in and out of it you can probably find pictures on the Internet of it and if he still eats it I would remove it entirely since his health is more important than being able to burrow. Hope this helps

[awkwardpossum]

I'll have to reconsider her setup then. I feel bad; she REALLY likes to burrow, it's what she spends most of her time doing, but you guys are probably right that the impaction risk is much more important to deal with...

I do have some coco fiber blocks laying around. Maybe I can replace the cypress with that instead? I know humidity is important for the indonesian species and having a good substrate is p. important to how i manage that, so I'm wondering if that might be a good alternative.

[Janella]

I would absolutely remove the mulch. It is way to risky to keep in. She had been lucky so far to not get impacted. You can for sure try the cocofiber blocks and see how she does. Good luck

[awkwardpossum]

Thanks guys. I'll swap the cypress for coco fiber first thing tomorrow... I wish I knew why the heck she feels the need to eat the stuff. Hopefully she won't do the same with the coco fiber?

[kingofnobbys]

I'll have to reconsider her setup then. I feel bad; she REALLY likes to burrow, it's what she spends most of her time doing, but you guys are probably right that the impaction risk is much more important to deal with...

I do have some coco fiber blocks laying around. Maybe I can replace the cypress with that instead? I know humidity is important for the indonesian species and having a good substrate is p. important to how i manage that, so I'm wondering if that might be a good alternative.

You'll be even sadder if she becomes horribly impacted and dies because of the stuff she's eaten.

[awkwardpossum]

I'll have to reconsider her setup then. I feel bad; she REALLY likes to burrow, it's what she spends most of her time doing, but you guys are probably right that the impaction risk is much more important to deal with...

I do have some coco fiber blocks laying around. Maybe I can replace the cypress with that instead? I know humidity is important for the indonesian species and having a good substrate is p. important to how i manage that, so I'm wondering if that might be a good alternative.

You'll be even sadder if she becomes horribly impacted and dies because of the stuff she's eaten.

No I know. Trust me. Point taken. I'm swapping the stuff out tomorrow, we'll see how she does w/ the coco fiber instead. I figure at least that's less chunky, and I can keep monitoring her closely. If it still seems like she's eating the substrate after that, I'll take things from there.

[tbets]

That is such a strange problem, no point in telling you to remove it since you already plan to. Good luck with another substrate!

[awkwardpossum]

UPDATE:

Mulch is gone, switched in the coco fiber. She hates it, lol, but she's just gonna have to get used to it.



Thinking about maybe mixing in some sphagnum moss or something?

[Janella]

I would had several layers of the cocofiber so she can burrow still. You can also try adding in the spagnham moss as well. Hopefully she will get used to it.

[awkwardpossum]

Yeah there's about as much coco fiber there as there was cypress mulch, but she doesn't seem to realize she can or doesn't want to try to dig in it... she's just sitting under her log and sulking. But I figure it'll take her a while to adjust.

[awkwardpossum]

UPDATE, it's been just about two weeks and she seems to be adjusting to the cocofiber nicely. I just installed some sphagnum moss in there too to add a bit of color to the tank layout and give her more of a variety of materials to dig through.



Bonus, here's the babe:

[Janella]

Awe, looks great and your BTS looks very happy :-)