If you decide to have a turtle in the house, then, first of all, you should clearly imagine that the turtle is not a toy, but a living creature. This is a real wild reptile that will not crawl to its owner’s knees and will not rumble like a cat, but rather will simply not react to you at all and may even bite painfully.
Nevertheless, turtles are often kept in apartments as pets, because they do not require such care as a cat or dog, do not spoil furniture, do not spoil in the corners, do not bark. And you need to walk the turtle only in the summer in sunny weather, and even then not every day. It should be remembered that, being a cold-blooded animal by nature, the turtle needs heating and proper nutrition, receiving with food what it receives in nature. Therefore, the question of what to feed is one of the main ones.
The widespread belief that the tortoise can be given bread, cheese, milk, cottage cheese and even cat food is initially erroneous. But what to feed the turtles with?
According to the type of nutrition, turtles can be divided into three groups.
- Predatory. Almost all of these species live in water, and therefore eat mainly food of animal origin (mainly fish and seafood), which makes up 70 to 90% of their diet, and only 10-30% is plant food. The main product in the diet of such turtles is lean fish. Before feeding the turtles with fish, the meat should be cleaned of bones and cut into small pieces. Once a week, they should be given low-fat boiled meat, which is saturated with animal protein. As vitamins give the meat of snails or worms. In winter, multivitamins should be given for prevention. You can also use ready-made food for turtles, which is sold in pet stores (for example, "Aquarius Turtle Menu" or "Tropical BioREPT").
- Herbivores. These turtles consume about 90% of plant and 2 to 10% of animal food. They are usually fed a mixture of vegetables, herbs, fruits with the addition of proteins and vitamin-mineral supplements. Before feeding the turtles, the mixture should be finely chopped. Turtles up to a year must be fed daily, but do not leave food for more than 2-3 hours. Adult turtles are recommended to be fed 2-3 times a week. For a turtle, this is not dangerous, but rather, on the contrary, is only beneficial. In no case should you give your pet black bread, milk, citrus peel and fruit pits, as they contain alkaloids. Also, certain types of indoor plants cannot be eaten. You should not abuse sweet fruits, grapes, cucumbers, cherries, spices. In the summer, turtles enjoy treating with dandelions, coltsfoot, clover, as well as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.
Once a week, mineral (carbonate, calcium palmitate, borogluconate, glycerophosphate, bone meal, crushed egg shells) and protein (raw liver, bran, dry yeast, cottage cheese, boiled egg, ground meat) supplements should be given. - Omnivores. Eat both animal and plant foods in a combination of approximately 50x50. How to feed the turtles of this group is clear from their name.
Keep turtles recommended in terrariums. With proper nutrition and proper care, they can live more than 30 years.