How to feed turtles - feeding turtles than feeding a home turtle
In vain, many people believe that turtles living at home are somewhat different from other pets, people simply do not know much about the specifics of their contents and care, and also, what they feed the turtles, these wonderful pets.
Home turtle
In Russian pet stores and in the markets three species of water turtles are sold: red-eared, marsh European and trio-noses.
A red-eared turtle( marine or African decorative) has a slightly greenish or dark brown shell, on the head behind it are red strips-ears, and between the paws there are membranes.
The swamp turtle has a brown or black shell, sometimes covered with yellow specks or small lines, the skin of such a turtle is dark, with yellow specks.
Funny tortoise turionics - soft-bodied with a light beige armor in adults, and dark-beige - in toddlers. Surprisingly, the shell of this turtle is covered with skin( for which it was given the name), and instead of a nose it has a small proboscis. This is not all of its amazing features - the trionics has a long neck and paws on its paws and sharp white claws. The turtle's disposition, say, is not very benevolent, rather aggressive, and she prefers loneliness, so she needs to keep it in a single copy. Adult turtles can reach 30 centimeters, and they live up to 40 years, although the marsh tortoise is considered among them a long-liver - it can live in good conditions for about 70 years.
How to feed turtle
To create a comfortable and "happy" life for tortoises, they must be properly fed, and as it is properly fed, this means not only how, but also how to do it. The whole difficulty is that you need to train the turtle to eat on the shore, that is, she must understand that in order to eat, she must go ashore.
Another problem is that most of the feeds, from what the red-eared friends offer, are bloodworm, meat and squid only contain the amount of protein needed for tortillas. Manufactured in factory conditions, granulated food can contain the right amount of fats, proteins and vitamins. However, all types of feed do not contain the amount of calcium that all turtles need. Solve this problem in two ways, along with the question of what to feed the home turtle.
First of all, you need to start luring the turtle ashore. First, feed the food at an incline on the water's edge. Gradually, putting food, diluted with a small amount of water, in a small saucer, it starts to move away from the water for an increasing distance. The tortoise begins to understand that in order to eat, she must get out on land.
Feed turtles and on the shore in a different way, planting them in any small container with water. In this case, it is very convenient to pour calcium salts and vitamins in the form of a powder on the feed.
The fact that turtles like to eat in the water, and only in the "home" house - the aquarium, is known to all owners, but this kind of feeding has many significant drawbacks. Food, especially of animal origin, in water immediately spoils, and not only clogs water, but also destroys biofilters.
If you still can not accustom the turtle, there is an outside of the aquarium, then you must adhere to a certain rule, namely - remove the food remnants 30 minutes after the start of feeding( usually this time the turtle suffices to be full).
What does the home turtle
One way to feed the tortoise on land so that it receives the necessary amount of calcium is to add to it in large quantities small non-fat fish, with bones, fed periodically live snails of aquarium species, such as Ampularia spp., Or ground snails - Helix aspersa. Despite their small size, turtles can eat a whole small aquarium fish, for example, guppies. Still, in order to increase the amount of calcium, turtles are fed with a defrosted fish, cut into small pieces. It is best to feed the fish of the group of percids( herring and mackerel - it is undesirable).In large specimens of fish it is necessary to remove large bones, and cut the remaining fillets together with vertebral bones and give them with other food. Too fat fish, for example, capelin, sprat, tulle, Baltic herring, it is best to hold some time in the hot water( 80 ° C - 2 minutes) before feeding. The owners of turtles should know, if the question arises, what to feed the red-bellied turtles of the house, then the meat is the most incorrect food of all kinds. This type of food is fraught with development in turtles of all varieties, rickets and hypovitaminosis A. Meat is allowed to add little by little to the "right" food for those turtles that grew on granulated factory feed, because in some of its species there is not enough protein. And one more thing that owners of tortillas should know - if the turtle is accustomed to raw meat, they will not want to take other food, which is very harmful for their health.
Treats for turtle
In addition to constantly needed food, turtles need to give various goodies( naturally, in their understanding).As a rule, turtles of all kinds love the living special food - earthworms, bloodworms, pipe growers, carriage. Such additives are very fond of young turtles, and it is very useful and necessary for them, especially after fasting, which can be associated with illness or hibernation( in winter, turtles can sleep from 10 weeks to 5 months, it all depends on the size of the individual).
Love turtles and meat of squid and shrimp, very much to their liking( and useful) liver in its raw form. This, of course, is not the main type of food, but if they add to the liver at least once a week, then you can not give vitamins.
Some conscientious and scrupulous owners of turtles with their own hands prepare them a common delicacy, useful and tasty for tortilla. This is a fodder mixture, prepared on the basis of ordinary food gelatin or its vegetable substitute agar-agar. This will not only solve the problem, than feed the water turtles, but also maximize the turtle menu with a useful and nutritious food, which will include vitamins and minerals.
The mixture consists of cabbage( 50 g), carrots( 70 g), apples( 50 g), fish fillets( 145 g), raw eggs( 2 pcs.), Squid fillets( 100 g), milk( 150 ml).The basis, consisting of gelatin dissolved in water( 30 g / 150 ml), add the entire mixture and 20 drops of "Tetravit", 10 tablets of calcium glycerophosphate.
Prepare in the following sequence. In gelatin, first poured warm water, after its swelling is brought to dissolution for a couple. Grind all the harvested food in a meat grinder and mix. Vitamins and detailed tablets of glycerophosphate are added to the mixture, after its temperature has dropped to 25-30 ° C.Then, the mixture is again stirred and placed in a refrigerator. Before feeding, the prepared mixture is cut into small cubes and allowed to warm up to the optimum room temperature. The resulting amount of food is enough for ten feedings for one adult turtle. In the same mixture, you can easily add and crushed medicinal products, in case of illness.
Several important tips
Becoming older, turtles begin to consume more and more vegetable feed, and the owners of these amazing ancient tortillas must take this into account. If the aquarium planted algae, the turtles, unfortunately, they quickly eat. So in the form of constant food, they need to give more and more vegetable food, such as algae and duckweed from real reservoirs, elodei, edogonia, water zhiruha, and also, lettuce, young cabbage.
How many times to feed a turtle? Small and young turtles are eaten every day for up to two years, and adults can be fed once in 3 days, but very abundant( this also applies to "youth"), since turtles are big "gourmets" and prefer to eat tasty, dense and many.
And, lastly, the correct and balanced nutrition of the turtle is the main factor of their healthy and long life. All the food that the turtle consumes must be necessarily fresh and of high quality. And yet, turtles will not consume food from the refrigerator, they do not eat anything cold, so, before feeding everything must be obtained in advance from the refrigerator and allow the stern to warm to room temperature( or slightly warmed up).