Where can I find cuttlebone?*

[ignatius]

New to the crew. Just got a snail. I need cuttlebone, but I live in South Korea and have no idea where to get it. Are there any substitutions for their calcium needs?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Snail People.


-Ignatius

[Deleted]

Well like it says on the website you can use grounded egg shells but remove the membrane.

[hoodooman]

Do you have any place around that caters to people with pet birds? That's usually the easiest place to find cuttlebone. It's a staple item in the pet bird industry so usually anywhere that sells birds or supplies for birds will have it. If I recall from my wildlife rehab days, the benefit to using cuttlebone is that because of its composition, it has the greatest amount of calcium per volume that's actually usable or rather able to be absorbed by the animal. Around 40% if I recall correctly, but please don't quote me on that. And those stats probably apply to vertebrates specifically, I don't know about snails for sure. I believe that foghog said he had some research showing that powdered oystershell might yield more optimal results with snails, and I'm not sure where to find that, but any source of supplemental calcium would be good, as long as the animal is consuming it. The advantage to something like cuttlebone is that rather than adding it to their food, you can just leave it in their enclosure and they can basically self-administer when they feel like they need it. But I'm pretty sure you can't OD something on calcium--it's water soluble so anything that isn't used is just passed out of the body unlike say Vitamin A or D where you have to be careful of the amount you supplement, so especially with something that uses as much calcium as a snail, multiple sources might not be a bad idea. I have found that animals (both my torts and my snail have done this) will primarily try to supplement their calcium when they are growing, whereas once they reach full size, if you are feeding them well they may not need to supplement calcium, although you should always have it there just in case. But, for example, my two Redfoot torts which are juveniles just ate basically an entire cuttlebone when I put a new one in the other night (I have to get some more actually) whereas with my Russian tort, who is full size, I keep a cuttlebone in his enclosure and change it out occaisonally when it starts to look really bad, but he almost never eats any of it. Note that many full size animals if they are healthy will continue to exhibit a small amount of growth, i.e. you will see growth lines, but not a real increase in size, and it doesn't require near the nutrients as the amount of growth they do when they are young. This is probably WAY more info than you wanted, though, so, yeah, just look for someplace that does pet birds. Good luck.

[bugz2go]

I currently have cuttlefish for sale on ebay (theverminator) @ £1.20 for 8 pieces and on my website at £1 for 10 pieces. They are clean, 4" long and with them being very light I don`t think the postage to South Korea will be that bad but if you would like me to get an exact cost please let me know.
Kind regards
Paul
www.bugz2go.com

[foghog]

that is a very decent price on cuttlebone.
Here is my views and finding about calcium in regards to snails (and other creatures which include turtles.) in the wild snails gain most of their calcium by the foods they eat, usually. Foods that are grown well in calcium rich areas often have high amounts of calcium in them. when being raised by humans, that is seldom the case, nor is it the case that vegetables raised by humans on farms often have as much calcium as the plants in calcium rich areas have, because commercial growers grow not only modified plants to appeal more towards humans looking at them, stay fresher for shipping, etc,etc they also grow them in soil conditions and environments that promote those aspects. furthermore, the calcium content alone is not the issue, just as say diabetics have foods that make their body react differently to the sugars involved, like orange juice creating a rapid response to the sugars being absorbed by the body, instead of like carbohydrates being converted ,it is the same with other foods and snails with calcium. (I actually started to go into some of it, but it'd be a very long post indeed, so you can just get the general idea.). it has been shown for instance in a study I read that a 50/50 combination of oyster shell powder and limestone did in fact increase the size and weight of all snail control groups by up to a factor of +30% compared to just using limestone powder alone, which compared equally with cuttle fish. furthermore it was observed according to the paper that the shells were thicker as well. (which makes sense but still noted.)it was also noted that eggshells performed the least favorable with a decrease of up to 15% in comparison with powdered limestone. This is of course not conclusive in the least...the study used the same source for the eggshells for instance and they did not remove the membranes, which could of had trace amounts of antibiotics as well as other things, and the same applies really to the oyster shells. but the makeup of the calcium and it's forms do lend to oyster shells having some benefit to higher calcium absorption, even if it is the possibility of the 'taste' being more to the liking of snails and thus they may eat more of it also.
Oyster shell powder analysys:
Phosphorous (ug/g)* 195
Potassium (ug/g) 393
Calcium (ug/g) 400,000
Magnesium (ug/g) 2190
Iron (ug/g) 2065
Zinc (ug/g) 4
Copper (ug/g) < 0.7
Manganese (ug/g) 643
Boron (ug/g) 13
Molybdenum (ug/g) 1
Lead (ug/g) 10
Chromium (ug/g) 2
Cadmium (ug/g) < 1
Nickel (ug/g) 2
Cobalt (ug/g) < 0.3
Aluminum (ug/g) 2400
Sodium (ug/g) 1920
Strontium (ug/g) 1080
Barium (ug/g) 22
Vanadium (ug/g) 5
Beryllium (ug/g) 0.3
Mercury (ug/g) 1.5
Tin (ug/g) < 3.3
* ug/g = parts per million on a dry weight basis.

analysis of cuttlebone
Acid insolubles 1.4%
Moisture Content 2.3%
Ignitable Organic Content 8.9%
Calcium 34.1% = 85.0% Calcium Carbonate
Magnesium 1200 mg/kg = 0.42% Magnesium Carbonate
Potassium 463 mg/kg
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen 83000 mg/kg
Total Phosphate 20 mg/kg

Heavy Metals (mg/kg = parts per million)
Zinc 167
Iron 101
Cobalt 19
Copper 11
Manganese 8

of course these analysis will be different based on where the subject was gathered and other factors, so best not to read to much into them without keeping that in mind, imo.

[ness]

There's an interesting thread on cuttlebone here petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=feeding&thread=10783&page=1 as someone had found wild cuttlebone.
And this thread about purchasing oyster shell may help point you in the right direction if ordering from overseas is an option for you. petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=10943&page=1

Some folk use egg shells as a calcium source but the snails don't always eat it.
If there are any equestrian stores they MAY sell limestone flour which you can turn into blocks by adding water to form a plaster-like paste and then let it dry.
Do any of your pet stores sell fish food? Fish food flakes often contain calcium.
If there is limestone around that may be good, or natural chalk perhaps? I don't know the geology of your local rock, but natural chalk (Calcium Carbonate) can be bought over the internet.
Maybe search for wild plants that other snails are eating? Wild plants can often be a good source of natural calcium for snails. If wild snails are eating it then I would say it should be safe for your snails, but I would wash them first to be safe.
I suppose perhaps you could get calcium suppliments meant for humans and grind these up, adding a little onto their food.

[iloncia]

Brighton Beach. A lot of cuttlebone around.

[rosiesnail2]

Well, If you know where portland/weymouth, dorset, england is then you can get LOADS! Found on chessle beach. I collected 50 peices nearly on my own whilst with my sis bro, mum and dad! I then mashed it up into powder. its very good i just put it in between leaves of lettuce

[axoloa]

wild found cuttle bone is good, but should be boiled and dryed several times to get rid of salt contents from the sea. just thought id add that before anyone decides to just simply find a cuttle bone and use it directly from the beach.

[brunni]

- @ Ignatius in Taiwan, check out ff. possibilities :

- local beaches for cuttle bone washed ashore
- local fish markets and restaurants where the "bone" will be thrown away in the trash
- possibly also local fishing tackle shops as bait

Here in Ghana a lot are washed ashore, often I see teeth marks in the "bone" confirming they are the prey of fish ( with sharp teeth ). It seems the large cuttle bone is quite common, whilst smaller ones are slightly different ( another species ) and not so common ( maybe swallowed whole by the same fish ? )

[rosiesnail2]

www.Bugz2go.com/ is good there a £1 or 50p ish for 2 full peices i think or somthing either way their good!

[rosiesnail2]

yes if you want it powderd to sprinkle on food or live bate (i do this) its £1 if you want 2 large full its 50p
happy snailing
\/@_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

somthing like that --- bugz2go

[bugz2go]

Thanks for that Rosiesnail2, I will list my calcium products here to help others. 6 - 8" cuttlefish @ 50p, chalk powder 30g @ £1, E170 calcium carbonate @ £3, Calcium blocks @ £1.50 & 10 x 4" cuttlefish @ £1 (these are a perfect size for land snails but not as easy to come across as the larger sizes). Bulk quantities of calcium carbonate 'food grade' will be listed shortly so if anyone needs this please let me know. Hopefully in 500g and 1kg sizes.
Also, my January sale (livestock) will be on in a few days.
www.bugz2go.com
Kind regards
Paul
Bugz2go

[fran]

I always buy my coir from you on ebay Paul, seems your prices, delivery time and quality are unbeatable... i actually ordered some earlier...lol... ;D

i don't need cuttlebone yet, but wasn't aware you stocked it... cheap as well....

[bugz2go]

Oh yes, so you did and thanks very much for those words of support, it really makes it all worth while as their is another ebayer (who I won't name but is well known as I have had many complaints about him from unhappy customers)... (maybe this should be on another post to warn others ?? ) who is always trying to bad mouth my products but the feedback I receive from happy customers is far better then his poor selling attempts. He has even stated in his listings that Bugz2go.com doesn't exist...anyway.. Your order is all packed and ready for tomorrows post but I must say, my prices are cheaper on the website then ebay because of the charges incurred on ebay.. Thanks again for your custom.
Regards Paul
www.bugz2go.com