Can Turtles Eat Fish Food?

It can be beneficial to your turtle and your wallet to feed your turtle fish food as it is usually cheaper to buy and easy to supply. However it is important to remember that turtles cannot only feed upon things such as fish food and pellets its whole life. They need things like salmon, worms, vegetables etc. to get the proper amount of nutrients and stay healthy.

Fish food should never be a primary diet for your turtle; however it will not harm your turtle to feed it fish food from time to time. Different species of turtles are known to have different diets. Many turtles are omnivores that love feasting upon plants and insects. Some even love to chow down on fish. They also love to eat crickets.

An important thing to remember when considering your turtle’s diet is that it should always consist of items that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Minerals such as D3, phosphorus and calcium are extremely important for the health of your turtle. Calcium is probably one of the harder things for your turtle to get enough of so it is important to keep a very close eye on this. Feeding your turtle things such as crushed oysters, eggshells that are boiled and crushed, and cuttlebone can help your turtle maintain a good amount of calcium.

Too much protein in a turtle’s diet can cause stress on the kidneys and is also thought to cause deformities in a turtle’s shell. It is advised that you not feed your turtle high protein foods such as meats that we humans eat, as well as dog or cat foods.

However, if protein is fed very sparingly along with a varied diet, it shouldn’t cause any harm to your turtle but never make it a staple. One of the biggest things to remember if you decide to feed your turtle fish food is not to start relying on that as a staple in its diet. Many pet owners make this mistake because fish food is a lot easier to supply then other foods you might find or might think cost too much. It is recommended that you feed your turtle as wide of a variety of foods as possible without overusing any single type of food.