Can turtles eat cheese? You may have wondered whether turtles can eat cheese. No, turtles can’t eat cheese. Cheese is not something made for turtles.

Cheese contains lactose (milk sugar), and turtles are lactose intolerant. Turtles are not supposed to eat anything made up of milk or milk products.

One of the best parts of being a turtle is that they love variety. They want to eat a variety of foods they have been eating in the wild.

Therefore, you may want to share your favorite food made of cheese, or you want to share only cheese with your turtle. To your surprise, your turtle starts to like it.

Now, this is the point where you wonder have you done right or wrong. It is better that you come up here to validate whether cheese is something safe and healthy for your turtle or not.

You have your answer that cheese is not safe and healthy for your turtle. Let us see the factors that made us say that.

Rule of thumb before offering anything new to your turtle

The most important thing to see before introducing anything new to your turtle is to think about whether this food was available in the wild?

Turtles are reptiles that have been in the wild for hundreds of years, and the most easily available food in the wild is fruits, vegetables, flowers, and fish.

Turtles got no chance of eating cheese in the wild, and it is not a good idea to feed your turtle anything they are not habitual of eating.

Other than fruits, vegetables, and fish, a pellet-based diet does make a great contribution to the regular diet of turtles these days. So, it is better not to add anything new to your turtle’s diet that they are not adapted to.

Why can’t my turtle eat cheese?

Who in this world does not love cheese? I don’t think you would find any. So many varieties of cheese available in the market are tasty and good for the health of humans. You are now aware that what is good for humans is not always good for animals, especially turtles.

Can turtles eat cheese? Most turtles are omnivores, and they love to eat different types of plants and animals, but they don’t want to eat milk and milk-based products. Many milk-based products like yogurt and cheese are not suitable for your turtle to eat. All these products contain lactose which turtles do not digest.

If you, unfortunately, feed cheese to your turtle, he will end up suffering from indigestion. Indigestion will lead to discomfort, upset stomach, and pain. That is not something you will want for your turtle.

My turtle starts to like cheese – Should I still not give it to him?

Can turtles eat cheese? Even though cheese is not healthy for your turtle, he may start to like it. There are possible reasons for this behavior of your turtle.

The first possible explanation is that they are habitual in eating various foods and tend to eat everything they get access to.

Some people argue, which is not backed by research, that turtles are much more aware of what is safe to eat and what is not. They say turtles must have developed this instinct in the wild. But the truth is they don’t have this instinct in captivity.

 It may be possible that they had this instinct in the wild, but in captivity, you have the knowledge of what is safe to feed your turtle and whatnot. But you may start to wonder, can turtles eat cheese?

There is no point in feeding cheese to your turtle even if he starts to like it. Your turtle will end up getting indigestion, discomfort, and pain.

What else can my turtle eat?

To start with, you should offer the safest and most healthy pellet-based food to your turtle. It is commercially available in the market and is specially designed for your turtle to eat. You may find it easy to deal with and manage. They will not create any mess.

Other than that, many fruits and vegetables are safe and healthy for your turtle to eat. Other than veggies, you can offer animal protein in the form of crickets, mealworms, earthworms, cooked beef, and chicken. They add great value to your little turtle’s diet.

Should you feed cheese to your turtle?

Can turtles eat cheese? No, you should feed cheese to your turtle. It is extremely harmful and can get your turtle sick. Therefore, it is better to stick to other healthy options, but not with milk or milk-based products.