For some reason, many have developed a very strong belief that turtles eat so little at home that their maintenance is literally worth nothing. And this is regardless of which of them will be at home - sea or land. An exception is made only for giant reptiles that live in the distant southern seas or crawl along the no less distant Seychelles islands. It is already clear to everyone that not everyone can feed such a colossus.
Every second person who asked about eating turtles at home says that for this reptile, the limit of dreams in terms of lunch is like an abandoned leaf of salad, which she reluctantly squeezes and immediately falls asleep in order to digest such a hearty and wholesome meal.
Meanwhile, many of these creatures are real predators. For example, red-eared turtles, which are often sold in stores, need meat. Especially young individuals who eat with equal pleasure both ordinary minced meat, and boiled or raw fish. But you should not feed them constantly only meat. Plant foods should be included in the essential diet of these beautiful creatures. The older your Tortilla becomes, the more you need to shift her nutrition towards exclusively plant foods. By the way, if algae are planted in an aquarium with a reptile, then it will regularly eat them, thus providing itself with the necessary amount of fiber.
In fact, most often in the houses are ordinary swamp tortillas, brought home as souvenirs from summer houses and picnics. If you, not knowing what land tortoises eat, start feeding your "trophy" salad and cabbage, then he will not live with you for a year. In the summer, such creatures love to feast on pond snails, bloodworms or earthworms. From now on you will have to supply all this unappetizing ration to the turtle, since in your apartment it is unlikely to be able to feed itself on hunting. However, if you decide not to start a separate aquarium for her, but plant her as a commodity with your favorite fish, then she will be able to survive on such stern for some time. Just do not forget to regularly bribe new veiltail and catfish in the pet store. But you can’t keep the reptile on an exclusively meat and fish diet. From the fact that turtles eat at home, you can distinguish a separate position of shrimp and liver. This is a real treat for them, these products should not be given to them every day.
If you do not want to regularly supply your pet with
earthworms, then special
food for turtles can help you out
. Yes, this one is also sold in pet stores. It was compiled by specialists who know exactly what the turtles eat.
At home, you can cook an analog of this food yourself. It consists of cabbage, apples, fish fillet, milk, eggs and gelatin. As a vitamin supplement, you need to put a little powder obtained from the drug "Tetravit", and several tablets "Calcium glycerophosphate."
Gelatin is diluted in warm water and kept a little steamed to swell. One carrot, a couple of apples, 100 grams of fish fillet are passed into a meat grinder. All this is put into gelatin, eggs are driven in and milk is added. The mixture is thoroughly mixed and cooled. Vitamins and tablets are added only to the cold mixture. Yes, all this looks extremely unappetizing, but this is exactly what a domestic turtle eats with special pleasure. The resulting food is placed in the refrigerator, and as needed, pieces are cut from it, which feed the turtle. One serving is enough for about a week. Just remember to warm the food to room temperature before pouring it into a bowl and serving it to your pet.