Crickets 4 Turtles?

[flickchick99]

my turtle ate a cricket today that my brother caught?

are crickets a good food for turtles (along with other things), becuase if they are, im thinking of getting a box of them from the pet store.

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Hi flickchick99,

No.

Turtles eat underwater and crickets are flying insects. In the wild, the only time a turtle would eat a cricket is if the cricket landed on the water and a turtle happened to notice it and eat it. Certainly, a turtle will not fly around chasing after a crickets.

My advice is to stick to foods that live in freshwater - these would be part of a turtles natural diet.

Turtles will eat many different types foods. But, just because a turtle eats it does not mean it is good for the turtle, nor does it mean that it is part of a turtle's 'normal' diet.

Regards,
Michael.

[flickchick99]

thanks, i thought that
but i guess the odd cricket my brother catches would be ok though

[Gecko_ProCs]

but wait a sec
just because its not in it natural diet doesnt mean it would be harmful?
i mean a beardie in the wild would never happen about diced lettuce, peas, corn or some freshly chopped up fruits....
so many reptiles eat crickets so why not turtles??
i mean they arnt poisonous or anything and he doesnt have to feed it soley on crickets, maybe one every now and a again as a treat
im not trying to start a fight or anything its just my veiw

[falcon69]

Hi just wondering why arent crickets good for turtles,if you included them in a varied diet ever now and then.??

and also was just wondering species of what cricket actually flies.crickets dont use their wings to fly they use them to communicate.and you do see them walking across the top of water.

[Gecko_ProCs]

it says on Can o crickets

that one of the reptile spiecies its ideal for is water turtles

so live crickets should be fine??

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Hi Gecko_ProCs,

You are quite right - one every now and again as a treat would do no harm.

There are good diets and bad diets for captive animals. I just don't believe that a wild turtle in its natural environment would normally consume a large number of crickets, compared to the amount of other food types that it would find under water.

I could feed chocolate and onion to a dog, and it would eat it. But that does not mean it is good for the dog.

But, some people feed what I consider to be an unnatural and unhealthy diet to their turtles. They get confused with seeing the turtle eat something and thinking that food must be good and nutritious for the turtle.

Turtles do consume some insects (more aquatic than terrestrial), but this is generally only a small percentage of the turtle's diet. In a captive situation, keeping a turtle in a large outdoor pond will ensure that it does consume the occasional insect, just as it would in the wild.

Regards,
Michael.

[flickchick99]

yeah but my outdoor pond is surrounded by flywire all the way round, so they wont get any insects naturally


(didnt want birds to get in the top, one's already taken a turtle from me; nor did i want the turtles to get stuck in the fly wire)