Breeding nutria in households is a relatively new type of business for Russia. Until recently, many had no idea how this animal looked. Nowadays, many have become interested in the content of nutria.
Animal description
The nutria, the photo of which is placed in this article, or the swamp beaver, is a mammal belonging to the order of rodents. Its appearance is in many ways reminiscent of a rat. The length of her body reaches 60-85 cm, and the tail - about 45 cm. The animal weighs up to 12 kg. It has a dull muzzle with rather long vibrissae growing on it. Due to the fact that nutria can close her lips tightly behind the incisors, she is able to gnaw even under water.
All fingers, except the outer, on the hind limbs are interconnected by membranes. The front legs of the nutria are perfectly adapted to capture and hold food. In addition, she cleans and combes her hair with them.
The animals have a keen ear, so they are alarmed even at the slightest rustle. Judging by their appearance, we can conclude that they are clumsy. But this is not so. In reality, they run pretty fast, making jumps, though they get tired quickly.
In order for the cubs to be able to feed not only on land, but also in water, the mammary glands of females are located high on their sides. The nutria fur consists of a coarse and long spine, as well as a thick undercoat, most often brown.
Under natural conditions, these animals live in Transcaucasia, Tajikistan, South America, and are also acclimatized in the USA, France and Great Britain.
Breeds of nutria
Growing nutria is a rather interesting and profitable activity. Their fur is not only standard, brown in color, but also in other colors, such as golden, pink, white, beige, black.
There are only 10 mutational and 7 combined types of nutria. They were obtained through a rather lengthy breeding process based on the heredity and variability of their body. The color variety of the fur made it possible to create completely new breeds, significantly different from the well-known black-brown.
Home nutria is considered standard and the most common not only in Russia but also abroad. She is similar to the wild form of the animal, having fur of various shades and degree of color saturation. If you violate the rules of their feeding and keeping, the fur may fall off. Nutria can be described as a good mother with high fertility - 5-6 puppies at a time.
How to choose the right
A person who wants to breed these animals must first visit at least one farm, find a suitable place to keep them, and also purchase the right amount of feed in advance. In addition, the maintenance of nutria at home requires some knowledge and skills. And the first question that you have to face: "Where can I get them?" Everything is simple here: either through the local rabbit breeder society, or in the market. The second question that will inevitably arise: "How to choose the right animals?"
First of all, pay attention to the appearance of animals. In healthy nutria, the outer hair should be brightly colored and shiny. If the animals are poorly fed or improperly kept, their fur will be dull and disheveled. Also bright orange incisors testify to good health. If they are pale, and even with dark spots - this is a sure sign of a weakened body.
The most suitable time for buying nutria is the warm season, because they can be transported or carried not in insulated cages, but in ordinary closed baskets or bags. Adult animals, especially males or pregnant females, are preferably transported one at a time in a cage. Its length should be at least 50-60 cm, and its height and width should be about 30-40 cm. Cells for nutrias can be made independently. Materials such as wood planks, metal mesh or thick plywood are suitable for this.
Content
Cages and houses for animals are made very diverse. They can be remote and stationary, single-tiered and multi-tiered.
Keeping nutria without pools is much cheaper, and the quality of the skin does not deteriorate. In the cold season, animals do not bathe, and drinking water is replaced by vegetables. But in the heat, it must be fresh and in sufficient quantities.
The main condition for successful breeding and keeping these animals is the presence of heat. Thick hair protects the body of the nutria from the cold, but animals deprived of fur, the soles of the legs and tail, animals can freeze if the room where they live is cold. When severe frosts occur, the nutria lose their appetite, and they try to dig deeper into the litter. If puppies are born at such a time, then in the very first hours of their life they may die.
The main room for keeping nutria is a two-chamber house made of wood and upholstered from the inside with a metal mesh. Such a precaution would not be superfluous, given that animals can gnaw at the walls and floor of their home. In addition, there should be a mesh cell. Or - as it is also called - walking intended for exercise. In the cold season, the house is insulated with sawdust, straw, hay or rags. Then it is placed in the barn. If several such houses are available, then it is better to put them next to each other, and put insulation between their walls.
Feeding
Nutria, breeding and maintenance of which requires special knowledge, also need the right selection of food. For them, the food that is given to rabbits, sheep and cattle is quite suitable . In addition, animals willingly eat swamp plants, such as reeds, reeds, young shoots and roots of cattail, as well as branches of poplar, oak, birch and willow.
If the content of nutria occurs on a personal plot, then mixed feed, carrots, potatoes, beets, swede, hay and grass are often used for feeding. In addition, in the fall you can give animals fallen leaves of fruit trees.
It is worth recalling that its health and productivity depends on the level of nutria nutrition at home. Therefore, nutrients containing high-grade protein (protein) in large quantities are simply necessary for these animals. It is found in fresh herbs, oilcakes, legumes and animal feed. Neither carbohydrates nor fats can replace them. Proteins in the diet of these animals must be present constantly and in sufficient quantities.
It is necessary to remember the main rule of feeding nutria - use only fresh food. For this, various feeders are used. The ban applies only to tin products. The fact is that in contact with this metal in food, which includes compound feed, harmful compounds are formed that can cause poisoning of animals.
Breeding
Home breeding of nutria can be done both seasonally and throughout the year. With year-round breeding, mating of animals should occur continuously. To do this, you need to constantly monitor the behavior of the females, so as not to miss the hunting period and plant them on time to the male. With year-round reproduction, the possibility of repeated whelping of females is widely used. Thus, the offspring is obtained almost twice as much. But this method of reproduction has its drawbacks.
Nutria, the breeding and maintenance of which, in principle, is not particularly difficult, still require a lot of attention. With the year-round method of reproduction, females do not always meet household requirements: some of them are pregnant, others have a lactation period, and the rest have not yet completed the development and growth of hairline. It is worth noting that large and full-haired skins can only be obtained when animals are slaughtered from October to February and at the age of at least 9-10 months. That is why young animals born in the second half of the year have to be kept until the end of next year. And this increases the cost of feed.
Breeding nutria during seasonal breeding eliminates most of the disadvantages that occur with the year-round method. The most profitable is the option in which all puppies are born in the I quarter. In this case, the ripening and growth of fur is already ending by winter. Therefore, it is very important that the females whelp precisely in the first half of the year, since from November to March all young growth will reach the desired age.
Tribal breeding
The main elements of this work are the assessment of animals, the selection of individuals with the best qualities, mating, breeding young breeding, its branding, as well as maintaining zootechnical documentation. This set of measures is designed to improve existing qualities, such as size, color, fur length or reproductive ability.
The further development of any of the tribal traits in this animal depends mainly on its hereditary inclinations, i.e., genes, as well as the conditions in which it lives. At home, lovers breed not only standard nutria, but also colored ones. The color of the fur is a quality trait that is determined by one or more genes. It happens that they mutate, and then the offspring with a completely new coat color appears in the standard nutria species.
In breeding work, purebred breeding is often used. It is used in cases where they want to eventually get young animals with the same color as their parents. For this purebred male mate with the same female.
Tribal counting presupposes the presence of stencils on the cells where breeding animals are kept. In addition, it is necessary to maintain a journal where all the basic data on reproduction, mating and whelping will be stored.
Carcass use
Many are sure that these animals are bred solely for the sake of beautiful fur. But the nutria meat, with its excellent taste and nutritional value, stands out among similar products obtained from other animals. It has already managed to gain worldwide recognition.
Nutria meat is a valuable food for both children and adolescents, and for breast-feeding mothers. In its taste and aroma, it resembles chicken. Beef and rabbit meat are very similar to nutria in calories, fat, protein and vitamins, as well as minerals. Breeding and keeping these animals costs farmers much cheaper than raising, for example, cattle.
Disease prevention
As you know, any disease is easier to prevent than to treat it. Most domestic animals have a fairly high resistance to various kinds of diseases. These include nutria. Breeding and keeping them at home with the right approach to business will not bring any special problems. The main thing is that regular cleaning of cages and houses, pools and paddocks, as well as the removal of contaminated litter and manure from them, is carried out. After that, everything is disinfected, dried and ventilated. When the necessary actions are completed, you can return the animals to their place.
The bodies of dead animals must be burned. Flies and larvae are destroyed with a 1% solution of karbofos or chlorophos, while it is better to isolate animals for a while in some house.
Dishes where food is prepared for nutria should be kept clean. The quality of the products must be checked both in appearance and smell, and for mold. The water used for drinking, preparing feed and bathing must be clean and in no case infected with any pathogenic microbes.
Nutria affected by ringworm or tuberculosis, with severe injuries and paralysis, as well as with chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and other deviations are subject to slaughter.
Animals should be purchased only in proven and prosperous farms where animals are not susceptible to various infectious diseases. This fact must be confirmed by a veterinary opinion. They reject not only patients, but also poorly adapted to these conditions of keeping animals. This will greatly accelerate the reproduction of only those nutria that are most resistant to disease and easily adapt to a particular habitat.
Reviews
Nutrias at home feel great and are very quickly attached to people. Many of those involved in their breeding say that animals can be kept as pets. They are very smart, they know their nickname and eagerly respond to it, as they perfectly recognize the owner by voice.
The animal has 20 teeth, 4 of them are incisors. They do not stop growing throughout life. The remaining 16 teeth are molars. They have strong enamel and are intended for grinding and grinding food.
Such a cute and smart animal, like nutria, reviews of which in most cases are positive, can sometimes be very dangerous. These animals are strong and fast enough. A nutria can easily bite a finger! That is why it should not be bothered when the breeding season begins. In addition, farm owners warn that animosity in animals often occurs with constant malnutrition, when animals are kept in groups in cells. In addition, nutria does not like being touched behind her back, but if she is patted on the abdomen, she remains very pleased.
But in general, those involved in the cultivation of nutria, believe that this is a profitable, albeit rather troublesome.