How much to feed a red-eared turtle at home?

The health of exotic animals is largely dependent on nutrition. And if such an animal lives at home, then you should study not only information about what to feed it, but also about what the frequency of feeding should be. Let's figure out how often you need to feed the red-eared turtle.

Juveniles are predators and need to be fed once a day.... Some experienced owners believe that a fasting day will not harm them. The diet may include aquatic insects and their larvae (gammarus or bloodworm). Kids will not give up on insects familiar to us, for example, from locusts, caterpillars, crickets. By the way, forage crickets are sold not only live, but also frozen and even canned. It's pretty handy.

If the company of a small turtle in the aquarium is made up of coil snails, then they will also go well for a full meal.... These molluscs will serve for the reptile not only as a delicacy, but also as a useful "vitamin". Suitable for feeding and earthworms.

Fish is considered very useful for young individuals, and it must be given with entrails and bones. If it is a small fish, then give it to the pet as a whole, if it is large, then chop it into small pieces. The most valuable are hake, cod, pollock, crucian carp, blue whiting, and just these species are widely available in stores.

All this does not mean that you can feed a young red-eater with one gammarus or freeze a box of crickets for the whole month. A balanced diet can be achieved only with a variety of feed. Therefore, alternate different foods every day.

Very young creatures can go without food for up to 3 days, sometimes up to 7 days, and a teenage turtle will live a hungry week. But this does not mean that you can subject the animal to cruel experiments. After all, a person will live three days without food, but will he like these three days?

The older the red-eared pet becomes, the less often it needs feeding. Already at the age of 2 years, the turtle is considered an adult, and it is enough to feed it 2-3 times a week. Usually at this age the size of the plastron is more than 10 cm. If this figure is less, then continue to feed the animal every day.

According to some experts, very old turtles need food once a week... This is because the turtle has one of the lowest metabolic rates of any reptile, and the overfeeding that pets easily earn is very dangerous.

Many reptile owners are worried about whether the suggested amount of food is enough for a turtle for 2-3 days. To determine how much food the animal needs, give it a lot of food at once, and after half an hour, remove the leftovers and remember the amount that the turtle managed to eat in 30 minutes. From that day on, offer your pet exactly this amount of food.

An adult is no longer a complete predator, now it is an omnivorous reptile, and live food makes up about 50% of its diet. The menu should be based on fish, but now it needs to be alternated with plant foods and vitamin supplements, beef liver is very useful for the absorption of calcium. If the turtle does not like the taste of this product, then it is allowed to replace it with chicken hearts.

A healthy adult can eat nothing for up to 14 days., that is, for the duration of the vacation, the animal as a whole can be left in the terrarium unattended, but to guarantee, put small fish, coil snails in an artificial reservoir and dilute the algae - let the pet itself get food in case of hunger.

There are not many herpetologists in our country, but after studying the opinions of various specialists, one can come to the following conclusions.

• The turtle almost always eats in the water.... When biting off a tasty morsel, food particles enter the aquarium and heavily pollute the water and the filter. To prevent this, plant your turtle in a separate jar during feeding, such as a small aquarium or a regular basin that is not used for domestic purposes.
• Red-eared turtles are diurnal, therefore it is recommended to feed them in the morning or afternoon. Preferably in the morning. The metabolic processes in these reptiles depend on the temperature, so evening feeding, that is, a couple of hours before the heating lamp turns off, threatens that the food simply does not break down in the pet's body.
• When feeding frozen food to your turtle, be sure to completely defrost it.... The temperature of the food should be at room temperature.
• If the pet is fed without settling into a separate container, and pieces of food are thrown directly into the terrarium, then all leftover particles should be removed after 2-3 hours.
• You should not be guided by the taste of the turtle itself. If the owner thinks that the animal loves bread, this does not mean that now it needs to be fed with bread. Continue to feed properly.
• If your turtle is overweightthen cut back on protein-rich foods.
• Observe your pet if you lose appetite.... If the turtle becomes less active, has nasal discharge or swollen eyes, show it to a herpetologist.