How to feed red-bellied turtles to get healthy pets

The question of what to feed red-bellied turtles requires a serious approach and careful study, since a balanced diet is the key to normal development of animals.

A variety of trace elements should be present in the food, but it is especially important that the turtle receives a sufficient amount of calcium. In nature these reptiles eat both animal and vegetable food, independently finding sources of mineral substances and vitamins. But with captive maintenance this important task must be decided by a person. Therefore, in order to grow healthy pets, you need to know what to feed the red-bellied turtles, and how to properly organize their diet.

At a young age, these turtles are predators, and when they grow up, they become omnivores. Therefore, while the turtle grows, it needs to be given only animal feed, mainly fish. You can run into the aquarium of live fish such as guppies or give raw non-fat fish, crushed with bones. The latter for disinfection is desirable for a minute to be held in boiling water. Turtles are suitable bulls, hake, tallas, cod and some other species. In their diet should also be present meat (pork, chicken, beef liver) and insects (bloodworm, gammarus, lice, earthworms, beetles, daphnia crabs). You can give freshwater (including aquarium) snails, tadpoles and seafood (shrimp, squid).

With age, the aquatic red-bellied tortoise begins to consume vegetarian food. It is better if they are algae grown in a separate aquarium. It should be remembered that some aquatic plants, such as elodei and limnofily, are poisonous. As an alternative plant food, lettuce and dandelion leaves, spinach, crushed raw cucumber, white cabbage, carrots, apples, bananas, and duckweed collected from the surface of a pond or other clean water body are suitable.

You can prepare a large amount of food by mixing different ingredients and fixing them with unromatized gelatin. The resulting mixture is cut into pieces and stored frozen. Before giving the turtle another portion, it must be thawed. The commercial feed should be taken seriously, carefully studied the composition and making sure that it contains all the necessary nutrients. Once a week, it is desirable to add bone meal, crushed egg shell or calcium gluconate to the food. This is necessary for the normal development of the skeleton and carapace of reptiles.

Finding out what to feed the red-bellied turtles, it remains to determine the place where they will receive food. In nature, they eat food directly in water, but in captivity it will be more convenient to feed them on land. First, in this way it will be possible to preserve the purity of water longer, and secondly, it is more convenient to give vitamin and mineral supplements on land. A live fish is best to run right into the water, so that the turtles are hunting them.

Before feeding red-bellied turtles, it is necessary to determine whether they want to eat. Being a long time in a cool environment, these reptiles lose their appetite, so you need to give them time to thoroughly warm up. Feeling hunger, the turtles begin to run erratically in the water, restlessly inspecting the terrarium in search of food. The owner must determine the amount of feed by himself, watching his pets. Do not give excessive doses, which the turtle will leave.

Feeding red-bellied turtles for each age has its own regime. Young individuals need to be fed daily, adult animals - 2-3 times a week. Healthy turtles have an excellent appetite and, being hungry, actively beg. But overfeed them in any case impossible, because it can harm their body.