If you just decided to become a breeder of turtles, then the question of what the water turtles eat at home, must inevitably come before you even before acquiring these pets. After all, you need to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether you can provide your new pets with a suitable and healthy diet.
What do aquatic home turtles eat?
The most popular now are domestic red-bellied turtles , so we will consider the issue of nutrition on this example (their diet practically coincides with the nutrition of turtles of other aquatic species).
So, what does the water red-eared turtle eat? The ration of red-bellied turtles should include, first of all, a large amount of animal food, as they are predators. The ratio should be approximately 70% for animal feed and 30% for plant supplements. As such a meal, low-fat meat, fish, seafood (shellfish, shrimp), freshwater snails will do. Some owners give more cooked sausage and sausages, as well as cat or dog food , but such food can not be considered useful. A variety of algae, dandelion leaves, cucumber or slices of tomatoes, different kinds of salads are suitable as plant components. It is also worth paying attention to ready-made feed mixes for turtles. They contain a balanced diet for the components, vitamins and minerals, but you should not constantly keep the turtle on a diet of dry food, it is better to add it from time to time to prevent vitamin deficiency.
The mode of feeding water turtles
There are recommendations that small turtles need to be fed 1 time per day, and large - 3. However, experienced breeders recommend watching your pets. They themselves will make it clear how many times a day they need to be fed. For someone, this is every two days, for someone twice a day. Usually, when turtles are hungry, they begin to move objects in the aquarium, loudly fall from the island into the water, push the glass walls. Feed the turtles every time at the same time, and give as much food as the turtle can eat at a time. This will save you from the development of putrefactive processes in the aquarium, associated with the decomposition of food waste, water will be much longer to remain transparent, and the turtle will not face many dangerous infections.