Cuttlefish

[Stratters]

Those white things for budgies. We get a lot washed up on the beach here, does anyone know if puffers will gnaw on them to keep their teeth sound? I could soak one in tank water to remove the salt, was wondering if it would be a good addition to Piggy's tank and diet.

[RTR]

Puffers only work on shells with meat attached ordinarily. You would not want to introduce decaying shelfiish into your tank. But cleaned and dried cuttlebones were shipped to me from Mauritainia while my neice was there with the Peace Corps. I attached it to several pieces of lattice-work outdoors for the wild birds. They loved it.

[Stratters]

Thanks RTR, worth a try then. I'll make sure it's been soaked a good while first.

[Pufferpunk]

I believe snails will munch on it for harder shells.

[RTR]

The snails definitely will graze the "soft" side of cuttlebone. It tends to float in tanks, you'll need to weigh it down. Most land snails require cuttlebone when kept in captivity.

FWIW, cuttlebone is primarily aragonite.