Feeding and Nutrition :: Cheese...yes...that's right, I said cheese...

[kermitzaqd]

So I was over at a friend's house that has a RES and he happened to feed him while I was there and took Iceberg lettuce (I know, but not the kicker) and shredded cheese over to the tank and dropped some in! I was like, you feed CHEESE to your RES and he said, yeah, he loves it.

Now I realized that feeding dairy to an RES is not good, but I didn't really know how to back it up. Can anyone tell me exactly what dairy would do to a turtle's digestive system? I was thinking they'd either get constipated or have the runs...but I need facts.

[SpotsMama]

It's just wrong! In the wild, where would a turtle ever get a dairy product? And especially cheese, which is loaded with fat and very high protein, is bad. Too much fat makes a turtle fat and too much protein not only makes them fat but over time will cause metabolic bone disease and damage the internal organs. Overfeeding and too much protein are key causes of premature death in mature turtles.

Reptiles have much different metabolisms than mammals. Their metabolisms are much slower and they don't need the calories and rich foods that mammals need. A turtle person should try to provide a diet similar to what a turtle gets naturally in the wild because that's what they've evolved to need. A turtle's natural diet is high in vegetable matter (but not iceberg lettuce!) and the protein they get is low fat and not so concentrated - it's fish, bugs, worms, snails, things like that.

Good quality turtle pellets are formulated to provide what a turtle's body needs. Your friend's poor turtle should be getting Reptomin, Mazuri, Zoo Med or some other good quality pellet plus some decent green leafy vegetables.

Of course the turtle loves cheese. It's like chocolate cake for him. How healthy would your friend be if he lived on a diet of chocolate cake? He'd probably love it too.

Why don't you refer your friend to this site? It would probably be an eye opener for him.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I would agree with Spotsmama.

In addition to all the high amounts of fat & protein, cheese is extremely high in sodium (salt) and that's not good for a turtle either.

[steve]

I have an idea, tell your friend to find where it says it's OK to feed them cheese! Must be a in a reputable book or site of course.

[kermitzaqd]

I do think he normally feeds his turtle Reptomin or some similar quality turtle pellet. So not just the cheese and iceberg lettuce.

I'll try to think of a way to tell him he needs to do some more research. Just one of those situations where I'm very concerned, but I don't want to come off as better than him.

Yes, I was quite appalled myself. Even the iceberg lettuce has no nutrition, so he definitely has a lot to learn still. I know that it's not good for the turtle, I was just wondering if anyone knew more specifically what it could do on a short term basis, so he could see the results. I think for some people they just think, look it's okay, he likes it and they can't really think of the future damage that it could be doing to their system.