This article will describe such a topic as keeping a turtle at home. The article is devoted to this species. Most examples will be on my turtle Roxy. A separate section on the website is devoted to her life – the blog of Roxy the turtle. Second, unfortunately too many people take the definition of “pet” too literally for turtles and may keep them on the floor. For example, like a cat or a dog, which is absolutely unacceptable.
It is found throughout Central Asia, in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Northeast Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, in the northwestern regions of India and Pakistan. Treatments for Water It lives in clay and sandy deserts with thickets of sagebrush, tamarisk or saxaul, in foothills up to 1200 m above sea level, in river valleys, on agricultural lands.
In nature, the Central Asian tortoise feeds on ephemeral desert plants, melon crops, shoots of perennial grasses and shrubs.
Feeding
Some conclusions can already be drawn from its environment. The diet of a turtle at home should contain the closest type of food to natural. In Ukraine, these are weeds. For example, the following:
1. Dandelion (leaves and flowers)
2.Nettle (young)
3.Plantain
4.Clover (leaves and flowers)
5. Thistle
6.Dream (primrose)
7.Hay (source of rough fiber)
As well as many other plants from the list of permitted plants and herbs
These herbs are quite famous. In spring and summer, you can find them almost everywhere, but you need to collect them in places further from the roads. Before giving the turtle food, do not forget to rinse it under water (at the same time, the plant will absorb moisture). DEVICE AND EQUIPMENT As you can see, in terms of the diet, everything is very simple and, not least important, free.
It is important to feed the turtle in a variety of ways, and even your phone can help you with this. Nowadays, it is very easy, with the help of a smartphone, to recognize any plant and find out whether it can be given to a turtle.
What to do in winter?
In the cold season, herbs must be frozen or dried beforehand. Just put the required number of blanks in the bag and in the freezer. Or spread the greens on a flat surface (table, windowsill, cabinet, etc.) and let them dry naturally. Do not dry the grass in direct sunlight, but in the shade. So the plants will retain the maximum benefit. Dried food can be kept in a bag in a dark, dry place.
You can also buy dry herbs in a pharmacy (calendula, dandelion, plantain, etc.), they can be added to the food mixture. In winter, you can grate carrots and add dry grass to it. It is not difficult to make such a porridge, and there are definitely benefits from it.
It is strictly forbidden to give any “human” food: meat, fish, milk, bread, eggs or feed of other domestic animals. Diet of Turtle Such products are very harmful to turtles. Their use hits the stomach and kidneys, which later causes harmful diseases. Just as it is not recommended to give fruit. They are also not designed for the gastrointestinal tract of the Central Asian turtle, cause fermentation and are poorly digested. In addition, you can not give cabbage and other foods that contain a lot of phosphorus, it removes calcium from the turtle’s body.
Conclusions: the turtle should be fed herbs (95% of the diet), very rarely give vegetables (for example, carrots, it has vitamin A). It is forbidden to give products not designed for this type of animal.
How often should a Central Asian tortoise be fed?
Among all reptiles, the turtle has one of the lowest metabolic rates. Food is digested in them for a very long time: days, weeks, or even more.
In nature, Central Asian turtles do not always see food every day. In addition, in search of her, they have to cover considerable distances (not conventional terrarium 70×40 cm, but kilometers). That is, they have a lot of physical activity and relatively little food in their natural environment.
Some owners of turtles in their considerations regarding their nutrition come to the point that they consider it necessary to feed the animal 2-3 times a day, just like themselves. Yes, the turtle will eat as much as you offer it, but it will hurt it, not help it. Not all fruits and vegetables we eat are tasty and healthy for turtles. When creating a diet, try to focus on the natural food preferences of turtles and what they eat in nature.
Ultraviolet lamp for turtles
Ultraviolet lamps help the absorption of calcium, which the turtles get through eating. It is necessary for the strengthening and growth of bones and shell, without it, metabolic retardation (rickets) develops in turtles. Do you really need a turtle? The consequences of rickets are terrible: the shell becomes distorted and soft, the beak grows, the bones become very brittle.
(!) Ultraviolet lamps for reptiles have absolutely nothing to do with other various household UV lamps such as: blue lamps for heating (treatment), UV lamps for checking money, medical lamps of any type, lamps for cosmetics, etc. Such lamps can be harmful because they shine in completely different ranges and have different properties.
A heating lamp
An ordinary incandescent light bulb is suitable for heating, its purpose is to maintain the temperature in a warm corner of the terrarium (lighting a specific corner, not the entire terrarium). The temperature should be within 30-33 ° C. It can be changed due to the power or raising/lowering of the lamp. In a cold (unlit) corner, the temperature should be 22-25 ° C.
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