Feeding and Nutrition :: How about grasshoppers...

[ilcapo21]

So last night a dear friend of mine came in town for the holiday weekend from Michigan state, we were in the garage having a smoke and we discovered a huge grasshopper on the inside of the garage door, so anyway a few drinks later he has the idea to make that grasshopper lunch for my turtles, so he grabs it and throws it in, as soon as that grasshopper was spotted it was toast, is there anything wrong with feeding grasshoppers to turtles, also Ive been seeing a lot of crickets around my pond, so i feed them to the turtles, and ideas against doing this?

[JimmyJam]

It's not recommended to feed any reptile in general "wild caught" bugs of any kind. The bugs may carry toxins from herbicides and pesticides, which if fed regularly to your turtle can eventually cause serious problems for them. Even if the bugs haven't ingested any toxins like the ones I mentioned, they may carry diseases aswell. Hope this helped ya.

[Rexamus]

When I first got Curtis I was feeding him earthworms, pill bugs, grasshoppers, and basically anything outside I could find that I would consider an insect. My thought...he came from the wild and this is what he would normally be eating anyways.

After finding this website and reading the posts I realized this was probably not the best thing for him.

Insects are too high in protein which may cause pyramiding to the shell. If he was to get protein it would be a once a month "treat". Otherwise he would get veggies and his pellets.

I've had my turtle since March and he's still alive so I don't think feeding him all those outdoor critters had any serious effects on him.

I think your turtle will be okay after eating a grasshopper but wouldn't suggest doing it in the future.