In order for the land tortoise to feel comfortable at home, it is required to create for it in the terrarium a microclimate, most reminiscent of the natural environment. Selection of equipment, diet, temperature, timely prevention of diseases - these factors directly affect the health of our reptiles.
The content of land tortoises at home
Beginners, who first bought a turtle, are always interested in the duration of their life . In captivity, reptiles can normally exist alongside humans for up to 3 decades. Much in the matter of how many land tortoises live at home, depends on the properly organized care of pets. Inexperienced lovers often allow them to dwell on the floor of the room, offer the animals indiscriminately food from their table. A predictable result of the wrong content of the land tortoise at home is permanent trauma, poisoning and a petty state of the pet.
How to equip a terrarium for a land tortoise?
Most fans have reptiles in glass aquariums . The land tortoise at home conditions feels great in a rectangular tank up to 100 liters. It is advisable to leave the front wall of the house for its puppy transparent, and to cover the side and back walls with a dyed plastic or wooden panel. Terrariums for land tortoises should be three times the width of the shell of an adult specimen so that they move freely inside.
Equipment for the terrarium of the terrestrial turtle
In solving the problem of how to contain a land tortoise at home, much depends on the correct selection of equipment for the terrarium. If you do not control the condition of the microclimate inside the aquarium and leave the situation on its own, the animals can get sick and feel uncomfortable. The list of the most necessary devices is modest and consists of several points, there is no need to allocate large funds for their acquisition.
Equipment for keeping a land tortoise at home:
- Ultraviolet lamp - the light of this device helps to absorb calcium and vitamin D3. The luminaire is placed above the ground at a height of 20-40 cm.
- The lamp with a simple incandescent lamp of 40W - performs the role of a heater, it is necessary to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the terrarium of about 27-29 ° C.
- Bath for bathing a reptile - we take the size of the vessel so that the water level does not exceed the neck line.
- A feeder and a drinking bowl - a flat, heavy and stable container with low sides is suitable.
- Thermometer - if you are seriously interested in a land tortoise at home, its breeding and maintenance, then buy an electronic device with a remote display or a special aquarium thermometer on the sucker.
- Hygrometer is a device for monitoring the humidity level in the terrarium.
- Shelter - you can buy a decorative house in a pet store or make it yourself. The design of the structure is not important for the land tortoise, but the internal dimensions of the "room" and the inlets should not impede its movement.
Ground for the tortoise in the terrarium
The choice of soil plays an important role in keeping the tortoise on land at home. In his absence, reptiles quickly erase claws, in many cases, the limbs are deformed in the limbs, frequent catarrhal diseases occur. There are several available types of soil that facilitate the maintenance of the land tortoise, which have their own disadvantages or advantages.
Varieties of good soil for turtles:
- coconut fibers;
- an embroidered pebble with a fraction size larger than the head of a reptile (contributes to the gradual clamping of claws);
- hay;
- straw;
- moss ( sphagnum , yagel);
- a mixture of hay and river gravel.
Unsuccessful soil for keeping a land tortoise at home:
- stone crumb with sharp edges - can lead to injuries;
- sawdust - cheap, but dust and often produce unpleasant odors;
- fine sand.
- Earth;
- Styrofoam;
- Filler cat litter - swallowing granules leads to poisoning of reptiles;
- paper.
Care for the land tortoise
To buy equipment and equip a terrarium is half the job, you need to be able to create good conditions for a land tortoise, provide it at home with useful food, take care of a pet's shell. Reptiles need periodic nail cutting, in the absence of solid soil they grow to large sizes and prevent crawling. Cut must only light edge claws, the dark part alive and inside it are the blood capillaries. Be sure to remove the dirt in the terrarium, the remnants of food, removing potential sources of infection.
How to wash a tortoise at home?
The domestic maintenance of the land tortoise assumes periodic bathing of the pet in a small bath. Reptiles up to 2 years of age arrange water procedures 2-3 times a week, adult individuals wash less often. Pour water into the tub not to the brim, just 2/3 of the height of your smallest turtle, so that the liquid does not get into her nostrils. In the shower bathing animals is dangerous, sudden changes in the temperature of the water can cause burns or hypothermia.
The optimum temperature for bathing turtles is about 35 ° C. With a curative purpose instead of a liquid from the tap some lovers use infusions of chamomile. Water procedures last up to 30 minutes, after that we take out the puppies, gently rub the shell and the body with a soft cloth. The land turtle at home is terribly afraid of drafts, so after completing the bath immediately transfer it to a warm terrarium.
Caring for the shell of a tortoise
The main diseases of the shell are chips, softening and peeling of the plates. Often this is due to the lack of ultraviolet lamps, without which vitamins and other elements in the closed terrarium are very poorly absorbed. The life of land tortoises at home is measured in a regular way, here it is not threatened by predators, but often the owners themselves or their children accidentally drop pets from a height. Damages are washed with antiseptics, fixed with gypsum and polymers. Fungal infections are treated with special creams, which lubricate the affected area.
The ration of the land tortoise at home
The health of a reptile is directly dependent on its diet, so the question of what to feed a tortoise in winter or a hot summer is vital to your pet. In nature, animals know where juicy herbs grow, which can saturate the body with liquid, and at home, the food depends solely on the host. Vitamin supplements and calcium are required for a turtle for the growth of bones, muscle mass and shell, without these components, the nutrition of pets can not be complete.
How to feed land tortoises at home?
Ideally considered a diet in which up to 70% of green fodder and vegetables are present, a fourth of the food at home is made up of fruits, the remainder accounts for protein foods and nutritional supplements. Mineral top dressing is made from bone meal, shredded shell, glycerophosphate, carbonates. Pure calcium is necessary for a turtle in large quantities, you need up to 100 g of this substance for 1 kg of the animal's weight.
How to feed land tortoises at home:
- leaves of dandelions,
- clover,
- lawn grass,
- shoots of spinach,
- salad,
- basil,
- in the winter, turtles are offered steamed hay and alfalfa flour,
- vegetables (zucchini, cucumbers, onions with dill, carrots),
- raspberries,
- Strawberry,
- cherries with removed bones,
- apples,
- pears.
How can you not feed a tortoise?
Inadequate feeding of land tortoises at home leads to digestion and serious diseases, so a list of harmful vegetables, fruits and other dishes must be known to any reptile fan. Useful food for a person may not suit your pet at all, interfere with the absorption of calcium, promote gout, cause iodine deficiency.
Prohibited products for turtles:
- poisonous wild plants or domestic plants - azalea, oleander, spurge, cyclamen, delphinium, potato tops, lilies, jasmine, hydrangea, mistletoe, rhododendron;
- bones of berries;
- a peel of citrus fruits;
- tomatoes;
- fruits of cruciferous plants;
- celery;
- spicy herbs and garlic;
- ready-made feed for other pets;
- fried food;
- sausages;
- stew or boiled meat;
- flour products;
- hard cheese or cottage cheese;
- It is forbidden in large quantities to offer turtles sweet fruit;
- fatty meat and fish;
- poisonous or poisoned insects;
- crickets;
- cockroaches.
How many times a day to feed the tortoise?
Important is the question of how often to feed a tortoise, because it depends on her health and life expectancy. We deal with daytime animals, so they are offered food in the mornings or for dinner. Young animals up to 2 years old are fed once a day, and adults have enough dense feeding two or three times a week. Do not give hot foods and strongly chilled food directly from the refrigerator. Remainder of perishable food is removed from the terrarium in about three hours, so that the turtle does not poison.
How to water a tortoise at home?
Beginners do not always study all the nuances and conditions of keeping land tortoises at home, forcing their wards to drink violently. Many species of reptiles habitually drink vodichku with difficulty, it just flows outside, not getting into the stomach. The main part of the turtle's moisture is consumed with juicy plant foods, absorbs liquid through the skin during bathing, and they are suitable for drinking water in rare cases.
Diseases of land tortoises at home
Most of the diseases and traumas lie in wait for animals in the room or on the street. Outside, they can be injured by dogs, in the mud live pathogenic microorganisms and worms, on the floor it is always easy to find the remains of harmful food. In the matter of how to treat a land tortoise at home with potent drugs, a veterinarian or amateur with experience can help, self-medication with antibiotics or human drugs often aggravates the situation.
The main diseases of turtles:
- Pneumonia - arises from hypothermia, the prolonged habitat of the animal in a draft. The disease is treated with antibiotics Baitril 2.5%, Oxytetracycline, Ampiox, Enroflon.
- Lack of calcium and vitamin D 3 - rickets appears externally in the warp of the shell, softening of the plates. In old animals, the carapace becomes unnaturally lighter, the bone plates become porous. Treatment is performed by injections of Calcium gluconate, Panangin, by adding mineral components to the feed.
- Dermatitis and fungi - sick turtles at home are planted, the shell is treated with peroxide, ointment Lamizil or Nizoral. You can do compresses with napkins, soaked in chlorhexidine.
- Helminthiasis - use Volbazen, Nemozol, Prazikvantel. Dosage of the drug must be specified by the veterinarian.
- Renal failure - treatment is carried out under the supervision of a specialist using Hartman's solution, Calcium borgluconate, Dicynon, Cathosal.
Reproduction of land tortoises at home
It is always useful for fans to know how terrestrial turtles multiply at home, to be able to independently restore the number of pets. The females mature at 10, and the males are ready for mating at the age of 5-6. On the eve of wintering individuals of different sex are seated. After exiting hibernation, the temperature is raised inside, imitating the onset of spring, fresh vegetables are introduced into the feed. In a group it is desirable to have up to 2-3 males per female. Eggs fertilized by a reptile buried in the sand or laid on land, the optimum incubation temperature is about 25-28 ° C.