Can Turtles Eat Bread?

If you put a piece of bread in front of a turtle, it will mos defiantly eat it. But this doesn’t mean that bread is good for turtles. Turtles are opportunistic feeders, and if they see something in front of them that might look as food they will eat it, whether it’s good for them or not.

Turtles can eat bread, however, it is not recommended to feed bread to turtles as a regular part of their diet. Bread is high in carbohydrates and low in nutrients, which means that it does not provide the essential vitamins and minerals that turtles need to stay healthy.

Turtles can eat almost anything, but that doesn’t mean that everything that they can eat is good for them. Even in the case of fruits and vegetables, some of them can actually do more harm than good.

Foods That Can Harm Your Turtle

Fish

Turtles are used to share the same habitat with fish, and also to eat them. But some fish can actually be harmful to turtles when eaten.

One of the biggest problems that some fish have is the high content of fat, which in excess can lead to a lot of health problems. And in the case of turtles excess, means a lot less than in the case of humans.

Another thing that should be avoided when it comes to fish, is to give your turtle wild caught fish. A wild caught fish, especially if it’s raw, will definitely have a lot of bacteria that can hurt your turtle. Even if in the wild they share a habitat, your turtle is not from the wild, so they are not used to the bacteria present there.

Fishes with a lot of bones should also be avoided. Turtles have no way of removing the bones from the fish, so they will end up swallowing them. And when they do so, there is a change that the bones will cause some damage on the inside.

The best way to get fishes for your turtle is to go to the pet shop and ask an employee for some feeder fish for your turtle. Usually they should know what you are asking for. But just in case you are unlucky, and the employee doesn’t have any idea what you want, here are two lists, one containing fishes that you should avoid, and one containing fishes that are good for your turtle.

Here is a list of feeder fishes that you should avoid:

• Goldfish
• Rosy Red minnows
• Carp
• Gizzard Shad
• Feathered minnows

Here is a list of fishes that are safe for your turtle to eat:

• Bluegills
• Bass
• Crappies
• Guppies
• Killifish
• Platies

Just make sure that the fishes are small enough, so your turtle can catch and eat them easily.

Meat

Turtles love meat, and they will eat any kind of meat that you present them, as long as it’s fresh. In general, meat is good for turtles, but too much of it can cause problems.

Meat contains a lot of proteins, turtles use those proteins mainly to grow their shell. But if the turtle eats too many proteins, the shell will start to suffer, because it will start pyramiding.

Pyramiding is a disease that accelerates the growth of the shell, but because there is a limit on how fast the shell can grow in length, the remaining protein will start to form pyramid-like shapes on the scutes of the shell. The bad part about this disease is that it’s irreversible, the good part is that only severe cases will actually affect the turtle, and if a turtle shows signs of pyramiding, changing its diet will stop it from developing any further.

Another thing that you should avoid when it comes to meat is meat with a lot of fat. Too much fat can cause a turtle serious health problems. So if possible, try not to feed your turtle bacon or a stake.

One other important thing about turtles and meat is that they can eat both cooked and raw meat. In general, I try not to feed my turtle raw meat because there is a chance that it might contain bacteria that you can eliminate by cooking it. It’s just a safety measure, so if you don’t want to risk giving your turtle bacteria, I would suggest you give your turtle cooked meat instead of raw meat.

Fruits

Fruits are beneficial for turtles, but you have to feed them in small quantities. Fruits shouldn’t make up for more than 10% of the diet of a turtle. This is because fruits don’t have a calcium potassium ratio that is too good for turtles, but beside that, turtles definitely benefit a lot from them.

Turtles can eat almost any kind of fruits that you can eat, but with a few exceptions. Those exceptions are citruses, and fruits with a lot of potassium. Citruses contain citric acid, which can irritate the stomach of the turtle, and fruits with high potassium are not healthy for the shell.

If you want a list of fruits that you should avoid, you should read this article: Can Turtles Eat Fruits? (with Pictures and Videos), after you are done with this one. Meanwhile here is a smaller list, with the most common fruits that you should avoid:

• Raisin
• Prune
• Date
• Avocado
• Guava
• Banana
• Coconut
• Kiwi
• Persimmon
• Cantaloupe
• Apricot
• Pomegranate
• Honeydew
• Nectarine
• Mulberry
• Peach

Vegetables

In general, turtles can eat almost all the vegetables that humans can eat, but again there are a few exceptions that end up doing more bad than good.

The first exception is iceberg salad, unlike most salads, iceberg salad doesn’t have too many nutritional values. So when a turtle eats iceberg salad, it’s only filling its stomach up, but other than that it gains almost nothing from it.

The other exceptions are vegetables that contain high amounts of oxalates. Oxalates are substances that inhibit the absorption of calcium in the bones. Since the body of a turtle is almost entirely covered with bones, calcium is very important for them, and you don’t want to disrupt its absorption at all.

Here is a list of a few vegetables that contain high doses of oxalates:

• Spinach
• Chard
• Beetroot
• Rhubarb
• Potatoes
• Endive

Almost all vegetables contain calcium and phosphorus. And as a result, most of them have a calcium to phosphorus ratio. So let’s take a look at what calcium does for red eared sliders, what phosphorus does for them and what is a good calcium to phosphorus ratio.

Most vegetables have a calcium to phosphorus ratio, this ratio can be 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 1:2, etc. A good ratio is 2:1, since this means that the vegetable contains more calcium than phosphorus, while a 1:2 is not a good ratio. So the higher the number on the right, the better the vegetable is for a turtle.

Here is a table containing some of the most common vegetables and their calcium-phosphorus ratio, ordered from the best vegetables to the worst.

Bread and Other Bakery Products

If you give a turtle bread or any other bakery product, it will eat it, but it’s not good for them. Bakery products offer them no nutritional value, and sometimes they can even cause digestion problems.

So they can eat them, but they definitely shouldn’t.

Pasta

Just like with the bakery products, they can eat them, but no kind of pasta is good for the health of the turtle. So don’t feed your turtle pastas.

Sweets

Turtles should definitely not eat any kind of sweets. They are very bad for turtles, and they can cause a lot of health problems. So avoid keeping any kind of sweets near your turtle, because they will try to eat them, but you shouldn’t let it do it.

Snacks

In the snacks’ category I include everything like potato chips, biscuits, popcorn, etc.

Turtles should definitely not eat them. This is because they contain a lot of salt or sugar, and a lot of chemicals that are very bad for turtles.

Just like with the sweets, your turtle will try to eat one if it’s near it, but you have to stop your turtle from doing so, almost every kind of snack can be bad for a turtle.

Nuts 

Nuts, just like some vegetables, contain high amounts of oxalates, which disrupt the absorption of calcium. So turtles shouldn’t eat nuts.

Dairy Products

Turtles cannot digest dairy products, so they shouldn’t eat them. If they eat them, they will end up with health problems.

But just like with every kind of food, turtles will try to eat them, because they don’t know that dairy products are not good for them. So it’s up to you to make sure that you don’t allow your turtle to have the chance to eat them.

Eggs

Yes, turtles can eat eggs, as long as they are fresh, it doesn’t matter from what species they come. My recommendation for eggs is to boil and peel them first. And to make things easier for your turtle, cut the eggs into small pieces first, or at least hold the egg while it’s eating, otherwise you will end up with something like his.

Insects

I know that most people don’t usually eat insects but in some parts of the world, especially Asia, they can be quite popular, especially as street food. So I decided to add them to the list.

Turtles can and should eat insects. In the wild, they eat them all the time. My recommendation for insects is to feed your turtle dried crickets, here is a link to the ones that I use: dried crickets that I use.

You can also feed your turtle live insects, but they tend to move around a lot, and if you are not careful they will run free through your house.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, while turtles can eat bread, it should not be a regular part of their diet. Feeding turtles too much bread can lead to health problems and should be done in moderation. Instead, turtles should be fed a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of foods such as leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and pellets.

I hope this article answered all of your questions regarding what turtles can eat, and whether or not they can eat bread. If you have any other questions regarding turtles, feel free to leave them in the comment section, my colleagues and I regularly check the comment section and answer all the questions that we can find.

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