Feeding and Nutrition :: Cheese?

[Doc_Moore_J]

Hey guys,
Typically, my turtles live off of two kinds of pellets (Reptomin and Zoomed) with a weekly krill snack, and about a monthly jello shot packed with calcium, fruits, veggies, and tuna. This morning, I was munching on a cheese stick, and I gave one of mine a little cube and he totally went nuts over it. I am sure it is fattening, and not something I would regularly give, but he totally loved it, it has calcium, so was wondering if it would be ok to give every once in awhile as a treat since he seemed to enjoy it so much.

[jay2487]

I have no experience in doing that or the results that would come from it but IMO feeding a small amount about as often as you would feed a goldfish, so once a month or longer seems like it couldn't hurt.

[worldpeace]

I thought turtle's stomachs can't process milk and milk products. Can someone more experienced confirm this?

[elwray]

I can't imagine that reptiles could process lactose since they're never naturally exposed to dairy... I don't think it would hurt him any more than it would a lactose-intolerant human, but I personally would probably avoid it. Unless you can find some good info that says it is fine

[worldpeace]

I think your best choice is to stick to the list of accepted foods that is posted on this forum as a sticky and on the main website.

[gianoshoes]

PLEASE DO NOT DO NOT give your turtles Cheese or any other milk product. It is really bad for them. I know this not only from my research but from experience too. When i was 9 or 10 I had a tortoise and i would sometimes give it cheese. It died...the vet said it was the cheese.

[harleysmom]

I would say do NOT give them cheese.

[blackforces get you]

wow i didnt know cheese could do that to a cute little turtle.

what if the turtle liked the cheese and would only eat it. that would be bad especially from reading this

[worldpeace]

I've researched this a little since I was very curious about this topic. Apparently turtles shouldn't eat cheese because in the wild they have no access to it so their stomachs are not used to digesting it. If you feed cheese or other dairy products to a turtle there's a great chance that something will go wrong in the digestion process: either vomiting, diarrhea, constipation...etc. Don't be mistaken by the fact that the turtle seems to like it. They would probably eat chocolate cake if you gave them some but it doesn't mean that it's good for them.

[Doc_Moore_J]

Fair enough, thanks for all the input guys. No more cheese for the turtle hahaha. Guess he will have to stick to the regular diet. Both my turtles are very healthy and I'd like to keep it that way haha.