Feeding and Nutrition :: Crickets

[imderanged]

Not neccessary, but helpful! basically feeding crickets that have not been on a fortified diet is like feeding the turt empty husks...feeding the crickets first makes them much more nutritious for your pet, making them healthier.

[TheComputerGremlin]

No, they don't need to be calcium fortified, it just doesn't hurt if you can get them.

[k9ck024]

can my turtle eat raw crickets or does it have to be cooked?

[octpusgirl8]

Lol, no you don't need to cook them.

[marisa]

No, you don't need to gut load them with calcium before you give them to your turtle, but by themselves they don't have that much nutrition. I like to try to maximize the nutritional content of the foods my turtles get.

[k9ck024]

how often do i need to feed the crickets to my turtles?

[SpotsMama]

Once a month would be good.

[imderanged]

I believe the rule of thumb is one live prey item a month. So one cricket a month, OR one minnow a month, etc.. but not one minnow, AND one cricket AND one srimp...etc.

[k9ck024]

how about is once a week good enough?

[imderanged]

Once a week is to often. Too much protein. My turtle got too much protein while I was in the hospital and his scutes are really far apart.

[k9ck024]

Once a week is to often. Too much protein. My turtle got too much protein while I was in the hospital and his scutes are really far apart.

so minimum should be once a month?

[imderanged]

the maximum should be once a month

[starscollided]

i have tried crickets - and neither one of my turtles seem interested - they stare at the cricket for a while and the hatching kind of bats it around like my cat would and then they swim away and the cricket ends up drowning.

-shrug-

[marisa]

If I have them on hand, I give a few small gut-loaded crickets once a week. You can give them monthly if you want to, but a giving a few more often as part of a varied diet won't hurt your turtle.

Starscollided, when my painteds were hatchlings and didn't know what to do with the crickets, the crickets used to climb on their shells and ride around on their backs. That was before the turtles realized they were for eating.

[frog]

what are scutes?