In nature, red-eared turtles find the most diverse food for themselves. They are omnivores. They can eat fish, bugs, mollusks, crustaceans, water snails, algae, and coastal plants. The danger is only "goodies" found in landfills near human housing. Oddly enough, at home, the risk of eating something harmful or poisonous is much higher than in the wild. Inexperienced owners offer their pets human food prepared with salt and spices, canned food, sweets, industrial foods intended for cats and dogs. Curious turtles try everything in a row. As a result, disorders and poisoning are possible. But it is much more dangerous when unacceptable foods are included in the diet on an ongoing basis. An unbalanced diet leads to irreversible consequences. Therefore, at home, you need to carefully monitor the nutrition of the red-eared turtle. How to feed red-eared turtles so that they are healthy and active?
Basic principles of feeding
The main requirements for the diet of turtles are balance and diversity. Home food should be as close as possible to the natural food of the red-eared turtle. You can not accustom her to one type of feed.
In captivity, regularly receiving food without effort, the animal becomes finicky. Choosing the tidbits, refuses the remaining products necessary for proper digestion and growth. For example, receiving a portion of nutritious soft meat every day, the turtle refuses plant foods and shellfish in hard shells. Obesity is rapidly progressing. Rickets develops. Spinal curvature is accompanied by pressure on vital organs. Without enough minerals, the shell softens and exfoliates. Not getting the proper load, the beak grows, which prevents eating. The quality of life of the animal is poor. At times, its duration decreases. Attempts to improve the situation with the help of complex vitamin supplements often lead to hypervitaminosis, which brings even more trouble.
How to feed the red-eared turtle at home? It is necessary to create a varied balanced menu that will correspond to the energy needs, age and physical activity of the pet. The diet should include plant and animal foods, vitamins and minerals. Part of the feed must be solid (shells of mollusks and snails, sepia) so that the turtle can grind its beak growing on the jaw.
Feeding process
Reptiles feed in water, since saliva does not form in the mouth, and there is nothing to wet the food with. In order to swallow food, the turtle needs to dive headlong. Reptiles can swallow small prey immediately. Large pieces they tear with claws and beak. At the same time, most of them become unusable and the turtle cannot pick it up. Therefore, the feed should be finely chopped. Many breeders plant turtles in a separate container with warm water for feeding, so that less water is contaminated in the aquaterrarium.
Products should always be fresh, at room temperature.
In a warm aquarium environment, food spoils quickly. Therefore, you can not give immediately the whole portion, it is better to offer one piece.
How can you feed a red-eared aquatic turtle with your hands? Any pieces of solid food except ready-made dry food are suitable for taming. The pellet should be wet so that the turtle does not hurt the oral cavity. The slippery little lump of food the animal cannot take from the hands without biting the owner by the finger. Trachemys are active, strong and impetuous. You should remember this when treating the reptile with a treat.
How much time to feed the red-eared turtle? Usually food is offered within 15-30 minutes. During this time, the reptile can be enough saturated. The remains of food from the aquatorrarium must be removed. If the turtle is active, looks healthy, but refuses food, you do not need to continue feeding or replace the diet with your favorite treat. Most likely, there is no appetite due to lack of movement. However, it is worth checking the temperature and water quality, as well as continuing to observe the turtle.
In aquatorrariums with several inhabitants (especially those of different ages), competition should be limited. During feeding, all pets should receive enough food.
How many times to feed the red-eared turtle? Although turtles spend all their time looking for food, digging up soil and turning stones at the bottom, they should be fed only once a day at the same time. It is desirable that it coincides with the period of greatest reptile activity. Keep in mind that digestion in cold-blooded animals is slow. Feeding is done several hours before a night's sleep, so that the food has time to digest.
Diet
How often to feed the red-eared turtle? Young and actively growing individuals are fed every day. Up to a year, protein must be present on the menu (60-70% of the total diet). Upon reaching the age of 2-3 years, growth slows down. The energy requirements of the body are reduced. It is enough for an adult turtle to eat densely once every two to three days. The amount of protein consumed is reduced to 40%. On fasting days, only a small amount of green food is offered.
Protein sources
The basis of the diet of a young turtle is a fish of low-fat varieties. Raw fish contains an enzyme that selectively destroys and inactivates thiamine (vitamin B 1 ). Therefore, before feeding the red-eared aquatic turtle, the fish is scalded or even kept in boiling water for eight to ten minutes. Cooking fish for a long time is not recommended, since long processing deprives it of most of its beneficial properties.
Is it possible to feed the red-eared tortoise with raw fish? In nature, the reptile eats small fish, caught in proportion to its capabilities. Sea fish, bought in a store, has too powerful a ridge that the jaws of a turtle cannot handle. Large bones are removed so that the pet does not hurt the larynx or choke. The entrails of fish may contain fragments and larvae of various parasites; they should also not be offered to a turtle. Only small river fish can be fed as a whole, without forgetting to scald it first.
Aquatic turtles are happy to eat all kinds of seafood: shrimp, squid, octopus, mussels, oysters, crab meat. Shellfish should be offered along with the sink.
Very nutritious food is meat. It must be offered in small quantities and not every day. Beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit and horse meat - all types of lean meat are suitable for feeding red-eared turtles. What else to diversify the diet? You can use the heart, liver, lung, muscle stomachs of birds.
Meat and offal are offered both raw and scalded.
Live feeds are especially useful in the diet. In addition, hunting is an excellent activity in order to entertain a bored turtle, improve appetite and raise tone in the autumn-winter period.
What can feed the red-eared aquatic turtles? As live food, depending on the size of the turtle, you can use:
- aquarium fish (viviparous, haracinovye, barbus);
- snails (ground, pond, marizu, reel, ampoule);
- insects (in the summer it can be beetles, grasshoppers, filly, hairless caterpillars, and throughout the year - flour worm, bloodworms, gammarus, daphnia, corpetra);
- nude mice;
- frogs.
Plant food
Throughout life, it is an essential element of nutrition. With age, it becomes its foundation. Vegetables and fruits are given in small pieces right in the water. Herbs in small bunches (three to four stems) are fixed above the surface of the water. Various algae can be planted right in the aquarium, protecting the roots and stems with decorative ceramics.
The list of permitted green feeds is very extensive:
- fruits (apple, pear, plum, apricot, peach, melon);
- vegetables (white and cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers, milk green peas and beans);
- herbs (lettuce, spinach, celery, dandelion, clover, sprouted oats);
- aquarium plants (spirogyra, anacharis, ceratopteris, hornwort, edogonium, common duckweed, pond algae, dried seaweed).
Vitamins and Mineral Supplements
Under natural conditions, the tortoise eats small fish and shellfish along with bones and shell. This provides the body with building material for a strong shell and skeleton bones. Mineral supplements help to bring home feeding of purified fish and meat to natural food: bone meal, crushed eggshells, a pharmaceutical preparation of gluconate or calcium sulfate. The powder is usually mixed with soft food before feeding the red-eared turtles. You can dip pieces of meat or fish into the mineral mixture and offer a treat with your hands. Young growth should be given daily at 5 g, adults - two to three times a week, 10 g of mineral nutrition.
To compensate for the red-eared tortoise, the absence of the sun, a UV lamp is placed in the aquaterrarium and the diet is enriched with vitamin D3, A, C, E. For this, “Trivit”, “Tetravit” or other multivitamin preparations are added three to four drops to the food once a week.
Pet shops offer complex vitamin and mineral supplements: Reptile Calcium, Reptile Multi-Vitamins, ReptoCal, ReptoLife, ReptoVit, Reptile Life and others. For fastidious reptiles who do not take food with additives, there is a spray for external use Nature's Reptile Vita-Spray. Turtle skin and shell are sprayed with it every day. It acts on bone tissue, absorbed throughout the surface of the body.
Such drugs are given without the appointment of a veterinarian, but strictly according to the instructions, in accordance with the weight and age of the turtle. Vitamin complexes developed for warm-blooded animals are categorically contraindicated.
It is possible to compensate for the lack of chlorine ions by adding 0.5-1.5 l of mineral water without gas to the aquaterrarium.
Finished feed
Making the right menu requires a competent approach. Daily preparation of food (defrosting, scalding, removing bones, slicing), feeding and cleaning the aquarium itself takes a lot of time. To simplify pet care, you can use industrial feed mixtures. Well-known manufacturers of ready-made rations for reptiles - WARDLEY (USA), TETRA (Germany), SERA (Germany) and Biodesign (Russia) - offer complex products developed by veterinarians that fully satisfy the needs of the body. You can choose a well-balanced feed in all price categories.
The diets for young and adult turtles vary significantly in composition. Before feeding red-eared aquatic turtles, you need to carefully read the purpose and composition of the feed. Baby food is rich in protein and has a strong attractive smell. Diet for adult turtles is 70% composed of plant ingredients and almost odorless. An actively growing individual will not be able to fully develop, eating adult food, and, most likely, will refuse to eat it. A large tortoise, on the contrary, will be happy to enjoy “baby food”, gaining extra weight and related health problems.
How much to feed the red-eared turtles with “baby” food is determined individually. Size cannot be a sign of age, because in favorable artificial conditions turtles grow very quickly. If the diameter of the shell increases evenly, then daily feeding and a protein diet are required. In the first year of life, the turtle doubles in size. Over the next few years, growth has slowed. Normally, the carapace should increase by about two cm per year. If the stripes between the shields on the carapace become very wide and light, it means that the turtle overeats and it is time to transfer it to an adult plant diet.
Canned Tortoise
Spoiled pets often refuse granular food. Soft fresh food tastes much better. You can cook your own tasty and fragrant combined food. It will help save time on daily cooking for young animals.
300 g of vegetables (carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, cabbage, apples) and 300 g of seafood or fish are crushed in a blender. 300 ml of milk and four eggs are poured into the mixture. According to the instructions, gelatin is diluted in 300 ml of water. A few drops of Tetravita balance the composition of the feed. The hardened mixture is sealed with a lid. It can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. Before feeding the red-eared turtles, the product is warmed to room temperature. The feed volume is designed for about a week for two medium-sized individuals.
Dangerous products
Despite the fact that these reptiles are omnivorous and unpretentious, their possibilities are not unlimited. This must be remembered when starting a red-eared turtle.
So. How to feed the red-eared turtles is impossible? First of all, it is human food: sausages, canned goods, dairy products, cheeses, flour products. Do not feed the red-eared turtles with anything. The small amount of food that they eat per day should bring maximum benefits for growth and proper development.
Foods and vitamins intended for fish, cats and dogs do not meet the needs of reptiles. They can cause severe disorders, and with constant use - irreversible consequences.
Fatty varieties of meat and fish will not benefit digestion. They are harmful to the stomach and liver of the turtle. In addition, a greasy film can harm the health of the skin, eyes and shell, spoil the water in the aquarium and biofilter.
Of the plant foods, all types of citrus fruits and other sour fruits, spicy vegetables (onions, garlic), and herbs are dangerous. Some algae species (Elodea, Ambulia and Lagenander) are toxic to reptiles.
How to feed a red-eared turtle at home: a sample menu
UV lamps, a water heater and other devices of a well-maintained aquatorrarium allow creating favorable conditions all year round. However, cyclical changes in the environment (temperature and duration of the day), creating the feeling of a change of seasons, are useful, and they are even necessary in preparation for breeding. The diet of the turtle in the summer and winter should also change.
Menu for spring and summer for young individuals:
- Mon: fresh river fish.
- W .: garden and meadow herbs.
- Cf .: insects and snails.
- Th .: meat or offal.
- Fri .: shrimp, shellfish and snails.
- Sat: frogs and insects.
- Sun .: seasonal vegetables and fruits.
Menu for spring and summer for adults:
- Mon: fresh river fish and snails.
- W .: garden and meadow herbs.
- Cf .: seasonal vegetables and fruits.
- Th .: frogs, mice, snails.
- Fri .: garden and meadow herbs.
- Sat: seasonal fruits and vegetables.
- Sun .: garden and meadow herbs.
Menu for the autumn-winter period for young individuals:
- Mon: peeled sea fish.
- W .: vegetables and fruits, dried gammarus, coretra.
- Cf .: meat or offal.
- Th .: vegetables and fruits.
- Fri .: peeled sea fish.
- Sat: aquarium snails and bloodworms.
- Sun .: shrimp, shellfish and snails.
Menu for the autumn-winter period for adults:
- Mon: peeled sea fish.
- W .: vegetables and fruits.
- Cf .: vegetables and fruits.
- Th .: meat or offal.
- Fri .: vegetables and fruits.
- Sat: flour worm, aquarium fish, snails.
- Sun .: vegetables and fruits.
It is important to control how many times to feed the red-eared turtles with products containing protein, and how many times to feed the green. Types of food should alternate from day to day. If you offer both meat and greens at one feeding, the turtle will choose tidbits, and it will not be possible to balance the diet.
Life expectancy of a red-eared turtle is about 20-30 years. With proper care and proper feeding, the reptile will reach a respectable age, avoiding many senile diseases.