How many times a day and what to feed red-eared turtles at home?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-01 17:06

In nature, red-eared turtles find the most varied food for themselves. They are omnivores. They can feed on fish, beetles, mollusks, crustaceans, water snails, algae, coastal plants. The danger is only "goodies" found in garbage dumps near human habitation. Oddly enough, at home the risk of eating something harmful or poisonous is much higher than in the wild. Inexperienced owners offer pets human food cooked with s alt and spices, canned food, sweets, industrial food intended for cats and dogs. Curious turtles try everything. 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. What to feed red-eared turtles to keep them he althy and active?

Feeding guidelines

The main requirements fordiet of turtles - balance and variety. Homemade 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 food.

In captivity, regularly receiving food without effort, the animal becomes picky. Choosing the most tidbits, refuses the rest of the 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. Curvature of the spine is accompanied by pressure on the vital organs. Without enough minerals, the shell softens and exfoliates. Not getting the proper load, the beak grows, which interferes with eating. The quality of life of the animal leaves much to be desired. Its duration is greatly reduced. Attempts to correct the situation with complex vitamin supplements often lead to hypervitaminosis, which brings even more trouble.

What 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. Some of the food should be hard (clam and snail shells, sepia) so that the turtle can grind off the beak growing on the jaw.

Feeding process

Reptiles feed in water, since saliva does not form in the mouth, and there is nothing to moisten the food with. Forto swallow food, the turtle needs to dive head first. Reptiles can swallow small prey immediately. They tear large pieces with their claws and beak. At the same time, most of it becomes unusable and the turtle cannot pick it up. Therefore, the food should be finely chopped. Many breeders place their turtles in a separate container of warm water during feeding to reduce water pollution in the aquaterrarium.

Food should always be fresh, at room temperature.

In a warm aquarium environment, food spoils quickly. Therefore, you can not give the whole portion at once, it is better to offer one piece at a time.

What can you hand-feed a red-eared turtle? Any piece of solid food will do for taming, except ready-made dry food. The pellet must be wet so that the turtle does not injure the oral cavity. An animal cannot take a slippery little lump of food from the hands without biting the owner's finger. Red-eared turtles are active, strong and swift. Keep this in mind when giving your reptile 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 sufficiently satiated. Remains of food from the aquaterrarium must be removed. If the turtle is active, looks he althy, but is refusing food, there is no need to continue feeding or replace the diet with a favorite treat. Most likely, there is no appetite due to lack of movement. However, it's worth checking the temperature and water quality, as well as continuing to monitor the turtle.

BAquaterrariums with several inhabitants (especially those of different ages) should limit competition. All pets should get enough food during feeding.

How many times to feed a red-eared turtle? Although turtles spend all their time looking for food, digging up the ground and turning over stones at the bottom, they should only be fed once a day at the same time. It is desirable that it coincides with the period of the greatest activity of the reptile. Keep in mind that digestion in cold-blooded animals is slow. Feeding is done a few hours before a night's sleep so that the food has time to be digested.

Eating mode

How often should I feed my red-eared turtle? Young and actively growing individuals are fed every day. Up to a year, protein must be present in the menu (60-70% of the total diet). Upon reaching the age of 2-3 years, growth slows down. The energy needs 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 small amounts of green food are offered.

Protein sources

The basis of the diet of a young turtle is low-fat fish. Raw fish contains an enzyme that selectively destroys and inactivates thiamine (vitamin B_{1). Therefore, before feeding the red-eared turtle, the fish is scalded or even kept for eight to ten minutes in boiling water. It is not recommended to cook fish for a long time, as long-term processing deprives it of most of its useful properties.}

Can Ifeed the red-eared turtle raw fish? In nature, the reptile eats small fish caught in proportion to its capabilities. Store-bought sea fish have a backbone that is too strong for the turtle's jaws to handle. Large bones are removed so that the pet does not injure the larynx or choke. The entrails of the fish may contain fragments and larvae of various parasites, and should not be offered to the turtle. Only small river fish can be fed as a whole, without forgetting to scald them first.

Aquatic turtles are happy to eat all kinds of seafood: shrimp, squid, octopus, mussels, oysters, crab meat. Shellfish must be offered with the shell.

Meat is a very nutritious food. It should be offered in small amounts and not every day. Beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit and horse meat - all varieties 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 food is especially useful in the diet. In addition, hunting is a great activity to entertain a bored turtle, improve appetite and tone up in the autumn-winter period.

What can I feed red-eared turtles? As live food, depending on the size of the turtle, you can use:

• aquarium fish (livebearer, characin, barbs);
• snails (terrestrial, pond snails, marizou, reel,ampoule);
• insects (in summer it can be beetles, grasshoppers, fillies, hairless caterpillars, and throughout the year - mealworm, bloodworm, gammarus, daphnia, coretra);
• nude mice;
• frogs.

Plant food

Throughout life, it is an essential element of nutrition. With age, it becomes its basis. Vegetables and fruits are given in small pieces directly in the water. Herbs in small bunches (three or four stems) are fixed above the surface of the water. Various algae can be planted directly in the aquarium, protecting the roots and stems with decorative ceramics.

The list of permitted green fodder is quite extensive:

• fruits (apple, pear, plum, apricot, peach, melon);
• vegetables (white cabbage, 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, Duckweed, Pond Algae, Dried Laminaria).

Vitamin & Mineral Supplements

Under natural conditions, the turtle eats small fish and shellfish along with bones and shells. This provides the body with building material for a strong shell and bones of the skeleton. Mineral supplements help bring home feeding with purified fish and meat closer to natural food: bone meal, crushed eggshells, a pharmacy preparation of gluconate or sulfatecalcium. The powder is usually mixed with soft food before being fed to red-eared turtles. You can dip pieces of meat or fish in the mineral mixture and offer a treat from your hands. Young animals should be given 5 g daily, adults - two to three times a week, 10 g of mineral supplements.

To compensate for the lack of sun for the red-eared turtle, a UV lamp is placed in the aquaterrarium and the diet is enriched with vitamin D3, A, C, E. To do this, Trivit, Tetravit or other multivitamin preparations are added to the feed once a week for three or four drops.

Pet stores offer complex vitamin and mineral supplements: Reptile Calcium, Reptile Multi-Vitamins, ReptoCal, ReptoLife, ReptoVit, Reptilelife and others. For finicky reptiles who do not accept supplements, there is Nature's Reptile Vita-Spray Topical Spray. The skin and shell of the tortoise are sprayed with it every day. It acts on bone tissue, absorbing over the entire surface of the body.

Such drugs are given without a veterinarian's prescription, but strictly according to the instructions, in accordance with the weight and age of the turtle. Vitamin complexes designed for warm-blooded animals are categorically contraindicated.

You can compensate for the lack of chlorine ions by adding 0.5-1.5 liters of mineral water without gas to the aquaterrarium.

Ready feed

Creating the right menu requires a competent approach. Daily food preparation (defrosting, scalding, deboning, slicing), feeding and cleaningAquariums take up a lot of time. To simplify pet care, you can use industrial feed mixtures. Well-known manufacturers of ready-made diets for reptiles - WARDLEY (USA), TETRA (Germany), sera (Germany) and Biodesign (Russia) - offer complex products developed by veterinarians that fully meet the needs of the body. You can find a well-balanced food in all price categories.

Diets for young and adult turtles differ significantly in composition. Before feeding red-eared turtles, you need to carefully read the purpose and composition of the food. Baby food is rich in protein and has a strong attractive smell. Diets for adult turtles are 70% plant-based and have little to no odor. An actively growing individual will not be able to fully develop on adult food, and most likely will refuse to eat it. A large tortoise, on the contrary, will be happy to feast on "baby food", gaining excess weight and related he alth problems.

How much to feed the red-eared turtles with "baby" food is determined individually. Size cannot be a sign of age, as 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. In the next few years, the growth rate slows down. Normally, the shell should increase by about two cm per year. If the stripes between the scutes on the carapace become very wide and light,it means that the turtle is overeating and it is time to transfer it to an adult plant-based diet.

Canned Turtle

Spoiled pets often refuse pelleted food. Soft, fresh foods taste much better. You can cook delicious and fragrant combined food with your own hands. It will help save time on daily food preparation for young animals.

300 g of vegetables (carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, cabbage, apples) and 300 g of seafood or fish are chopped 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 "Tetravit" will balance the composition of the feed. The hardened mixture is hermetically 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 amount of food is calculated for about a week for two average individuals.

Dangerous Products

Despite the fact that these reptiles are omnivorous and unpretentious, their possibilities are not unlimited. Keep this in mind when getting a red-eared slider.

So. What to feed red-eared sliders? First of all, it is human food: sausages, canned food, dairy products, cheeses, flour products. Do not feed the red-eared turtles anything. The small amount of food they eat per day should be of maximum benefit for growth and proper development.

Food and vitamins designed for fish, cats and dogs do not meet the needs of reptiles. They cancause severe disorders, and with constant use - irreversible consequences.

Fatty meats and fish will not benefit digestion. They are harmful to the turtle's stomach and liver. In addition, the fatty film can harm the he alth of the skin, eyes and shell, spoil the water in the aquarium and the biofilter.

From vegetable products, all types of citrus fruits and other sour fruits, spicy vegetables (onions, garlic), herbs are dangerous. Some species of algae (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 aquaterrarium allow you to create favorable conditions all year round. However, cyclic changes in the environment (temperature and day length) that create a sense of seasons are useful, and even necessary in preparation for breeding. The diet of the turtle in summer and winter should also change.

Menu for the spring-summer period for young individuals:

• Mon.: Fresh river fish.
• Tue: garden and meadow herbs.
• Compare: insects and snails.
• Thursday: meat or offal.
• Fri.: shrimp, clams and snails.
• Sat: frogs and insects.
• Sun.: Seasonal vegetables and fruits.

Menu for the spring-summer period for adults:

• Mon.: fresh river fish and snails.
• Tue: garden and meadow herbs.
• Compare: seasonal fruits and vegetables.
• Th.: frogs, mice,snails.
• Fri.: garden and meadow herbs.
• Sat: seasonal vegetables and fruits.
• Sun.: garden and meadow herbs.

Menu for the autumn-winter period for young individuals:

• Mon.: Cleaned sea fish.
• Tue: vegetables and fruits, dried gammarus, coretra.
• Compare: meat or offal.
• Thursday: Vegetables and fruits.
• Fri.: Cleaned sea fish.
• Sat: aquarium snails and bloodworms.
• Sun: shrimp, clams and snails.

Menu for the autumn-winter period for adults:

• Mon.: Cleaned sea fish.
• Tue: Vegetables and fruits.
• Compare: vegetables and fruits.
• Thursday: meat or offal.
• Fri.: Vegetables and fruits.
• Sat: mealworm, aquarium fish, snails.
• Sun.: Vegetables and fruits.

It is important to control how many times you feed red-eared turtles protein foods and how many times green food. Types of food should alternate from day to day. If you offer both meat and greens in one feeding, the turtle will choose tidbits, and it will not be possible to balance the diet.

The 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.