Why gammarus is bad for turtles. Treat food for aquatic turtles JBL Gammarus

The nuances of feeding aquatic turtles usually vary depending on the species. But there are some basic provisions regarding nutrition that are common to all species.

So, for example, turtles feed while in the water: they need it to drink food. Even if the turtle takes food directly from the hands, it still has to run or jump into the water to swallow this food.

Many experts recommend feeding turtles in a separate container. Such a measure should protect the main aquarium from contamination by food debris. However, when feeding turtles with dry floating food, this is not necessary: it is enough to collect the remnants of food with a net. In cases where fish live with turtles, the latter eat up leftover food. In a separate container, it is best to feed turtles if the food consists of hard-to-remove dirty food.

What to feed turtles

But no one - not even turtles - likes to eat the same type of food all the time, so it is highly advisable to give the turtles "holiday dinners" from time to time. Food for the red-eared turtle, like any other homemade turtle, is often a festive treat if it consists of: fish, brine shrimp, mashed hard-boiled egg yolk, mysids, earthworms or bloodworms; and plant foods: romaine lettuce, escarole lettuce, apples, bananas and melons. However, large pieces should not be thrown into the aquarium! The food for the little red-eared turtle is not much different from the adult diet, but they do not require plant foods. Thus, the food for small red-eared turtles mainly consists of food of animal origin.

Any new water turtle food should be given in very small portions so that it can be established whether they like the food or not. Also, don't give turtles more food than they can eat in a few minutes.

How much food to feed a turtle

There are many different opinions on this matter. For example, we believe that very young tortoises (under the age of one year) should eat once a day; young sexually mature turtles should eat every other day; while older turtles should be fed every three days if the aquarium has edible plants to snack on between feedings. Food should be given approximately as much as the turtle can eat within 5 minutes of being hungry.

Another method involves feeding turtles of any age daily. This is beneficial for turtles if the portions are small. A third option suggests feeding as much as the turtles can eat in 15 or 20 minutes.

However, in any case, overfeeding turtles is the worst thing you can think of. The owner of turtles will have to learn how to ignore their requests for feeding. Turtles are intelligent animals that quickly learn to beg for food when their owners pass by the aquarium.

Unfortunately, overeating turtles can cause many health problems, but with all their intelligence, they do not understand this. The fact is that the feeding behavior of turtles is opportunistic: if they see food, they eat it - whether they are hungry or not. In the wild, turtles never know in advance when they will be able to get their own food. Therefore, when they have food, they gorge themselves for the future, and can go without food for a long period. However, it should be borne in mind that in the wild they burn a large number of calories while hunting or searching for food, while in the aquarium they move little and simply get fat if they overfeed. Living in the comfort of an aquarium and being fed regularly, aquatic turtles still behave as if they were in the wild. Thus, they should be given only as much food as they need for a normal life - and no more.

What do red-eared turtles eat besides food?

If pet turtles have a diet of high quality turtle food, they usually do not need vitamin supplements, provided they live in a well-maintained aquarium with proper temperature and lighting. For example, turtle food, which is available in our online store, contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

The most common exception to this rule is calcium, which turtles must consume in large quantities to build and strengthen their skeletal system and shell. Turtle diets can be enriched with calcium if added to the feed.

Another exception to the rule is vitamin A. Not all turtle food that is produced in the pet industry has enough of it. The first visible symptom of vitamin A deficiency is swollen, puffy eyes. In our online store there are special eye drops that are used to treat this problem.

What is the advantage of feeds that are sold in our online store

Most aquarium turtles are omnivores and in the wild consume food of animal and plant origin. This model must be maintained in the built environment. Some species of turtles are more carnivorous than others, but even the most hardened animal eaters are more likely to eat plants on occasion. However, any food for red-eared turtles and other turtles in our online store is a product that has been developed taking into account their natural needs, and contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals, rich in vitamins A and D₃ and rich in calcium. All our pet foods have been made from only high quality products and do not contain pathogens or harmful chemicals. Uneaten food is easily removed with a net and does not pollute the water. They never bother turtles if they are regularly rotated with each other when feeding.

The tortoise can be attributed to the number of unpretentious pets in the care. In nature, these amazing creatures choose their own diet, combining protein foods and essential minerals. And when kept at home, the responsibility lies with the owner. Consider what should be fed to turtles so that they develop harmoniously, are healthy and active.

On the importance of choice

Turtle food is necessary for the normal development of the animal. It must be balanced and contain a complex of minerals, otherwise the pet will be able to get shell problems and die. Therefore, the menu for a pet must include foods rich in calcium and vitamins.

Also among the problems that an animal receives with improper nutrition are diseases of the digestive system, metabolic disorders. The turtle becomes lethargic and inactive.

What to prefer

Food for turtles directly depends on their type. The table shows the features of the diet of animals, depending on their type.

The type of turtle should be the main one when compiling a menu for it, this will take into account the natural needs of the animal.

How to please a predator

Food for the red-eared turtle, which belongs to the category of predators, must be rich in animal components. Therefore, at home, you should please your pet with live low-fat fish or defrosted. For young individuals, it is necessary to finely chop the carcass, removing the spine and large bones, small bones and entrails can be left. Adult turtles are allowed to give larger pieces or small fish as a whole. In addition to fish, red-eared turtles are fed with liver (chicken or beef, given no more than once every 7 days), small rodents (such as mice or rats), and green shrimps.

At the same time, all animal components of the diet should not be boiled, given to the animal exclusively in its raw form. Predators are happy to eat specialized raw food, insects, slugs, and frogs.

At the same time, you should refuse the temptation to feed the predator turtle the following products:

meat and semi-finished products (chicken, pork, beef);
oily fish;
fruits;
food for cats or dogs;
milk;
bread.

With a properly composed menu, reptiles will feel most comfortable, not get sick and delight the owner with activity.

How to please omnivores

It is easy to find food for turtles belonging to the group of omnivores. The animal component, which should make up 50% of the diet, can be used the same as for the previously described predators. At the same time, it is better to treat aquatic individuals with seafood and fish; for land animals, buy mice in pet stores. As a vegetable component, you should choose fresh herbs.

What do herbivores like?

Most of the food for herbivore turtles should be fresh greens, it is better to give animals salads, leaves, herbs. 1/5 of the diet may include vegetables: carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, unsweetened fruits are acceptable in moderation. A small slice of an apple or pear once a week will please the pet and will not harm his health.

Be sure to dilute the diet with specialized food for turtles, bran, soybean meal, dry yeast. At the same time, the following products should not be given to vegetarians:

meat in any form, including minced meat;
fish;
food for cats or dogs;
bread.

A competent approach to nutrition will allow the animal to remain healthy and active for many years, to please the owner with their funny antics.

Menu for land dwellers

Food for land turtles must be balanced, so you should please your pet with a variety of foods. Despite the fact that the animal belongs to unpretentious, picky eaters, the owner still needs to try and provide him with all the nutrients and vitamins. It is important to remember that these reptiles are herbivores, which is why the food for land turtles should include an abundance of greenery and grass.

Plants that this animal can use for food are diverse. These can be dandelions, lettuce or pea leaves, aloe, plantain, coltsfoot, sorrel, tradescantia and rhubarb. An animal can even be given juicy lawn grass. Therefore, in the summer, the extraction of food for the turtle will not be difficult, and in winter, plants can be grown independently in pots on the window.

Vegetables that land reptiles are happy to absorb are also very diverse: these are radishes, carrots, beets, zucchini, peppers, pumpkins, and cucumbers. The latter, however, should be given infrequently and in small amounts. From fruits and berries, plums, apricots, apples, bananas, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries can be offered as food. It is useful to treat your pet with sunflower seeds, dry seaweed, soybean meal. Juicy vegetables and fruits, in addition to their main task, will help provide the animal with liquid.

Nutrition for marine life

It is not at all difficult to pick up food for, it is finely chopped meat, raw chopped fish, water snails, beetles. It is very important to provide the animal with the necessary amount of vitamins, so about once every 7 days you should drip a couple of drops of vitamin D into the aquarium, and once every 14 days - vitamin A. Algae, dandelion leaves or flowers, lettuce are suitable as a plant component.

You can give marine life and dry food for turtles, which is easy to purchase in specialized stores. Its pros and cons are presented in the table.

Ready-made foods are rich in proteins, but cannot serve as the basis of the diet; it is better to use them as a treat. You can prepare a mixture of dry food yourself by including tubifex, daphnia, bloodworms, and aquatic crustaceans.

"Tortilla" - food for turtles, which contains gammarus, shrimp, numerous small crustaceans, mollusk shells, phosphorus, calcium and ash. As the manufacturer promises, the product will help make the shell stronger, but pet owners do not recommend using a variety based on gammarus, since this component can cause tympania in a pet - swelling of the scar. And other products of this brand can be given once every 7 days.

How to water a turtle

Land animals get the necessary moisture through the skin, so it is a good habit for a caring owner to bathe the pet once a week in lukewarm water.

In addition, moisture enters the body of land animals through food, which is why juicy cabbage leaves should be included in the diet as often as possible.

Prohibited

It is important for owners of pet turtles to remember that there is a list of foods that should not be included in the animal's diet. These are the following foods:

onion and garlic;
poisonous insects;
domestic cockroaches, crickets and grasshoppers;
eggshell;
cherry;
medicinal or poisonous plants;
potato;
porridge.

Turtle food must be balanced, you can not constantly give the animal the same product.

The main mistakes of the owners

When choosing food for a turtle, some owners make mistakes that adversely affect the health of their pet. What should be avoided? The most common mistakes include:

Feeding herbivores with meat food.
Lack of animal component in the diet of predators.
Inattention to the addition of calcium and vitamins to the feed.
Feeding too infrequently or too often. If the first leads to problems in the formation of the shell and prevents the full development of the animal, then the second can cause obesity. Of the two extremes - overfeeding or underfeeding - it is better to choose the second.

Very often, owners give their carnivores exclusively specialized food such as gammarus, believing that this is enough for them. Indeed, it is much easier to pour dry treats into the aquarium than to spend time gutting fish. However, it can be detrimental to animals. It is very important to consider the type of turtle in order to provide it with the necessary diet.

Turtle food ideally should be rich in fiber, balanced, varied and therefore healthy.

It should be remembered that aquatic and land turtles need a different diet:

Aquatic species should receive 95% animal food and 5% plant food;
Land animals eat mainly plants, so 95% of the menu should consist of them;
Omnivorous varieties of turtles should be fed a 50/50 ratio of animal and plant foods.

Be sure to take into account the age of the pet, its weight and temperament. Based on this, the sizes of a single serving are selected.

Dry food is produced in the form of sticks, granules, dried crustaceans and shrimps. At first, it is worth buying food from different manufacturers. Turtles have a highly developed sense of taste and thus it will be easy to know which food they prefer.

Once a week, you should give your pet special top dressing - vitamin and mineral. For healthy development, the animal must be provided with a full range of vitamins and minerals, as well as calcium, which is necessary for the shell. The terrarium must be equipped with a UV lamp, since calcium is absorbed only under the influence of ultraviolet rays.

To pamper your pet, you can give him special treats from time to time.

Where and how can I order this product for turtles

To purchase food for turtles and everything you need to keep other types of pets, you can contact the manager of our Mir Korma online store by phone or request a call back.

An extensive range of pet products from the best manufacturers allows you to choose the best option for your pets. Orders are shipped throughout Russia.

Gammarus, or amphipod (Latin Gammarus pulex) is a small crustacean of the Amphipod squad. Sometimes there is another name for the species - mormysh. Gammarus is often used as bait for fishing or as food for aquarium fish, turtles, and Achatina snails. Has an industrial value. The natural habitat of the Mormysh is fresh and brackish water bodies of all latitudes. Actually, gammarus is a freshwater crustacean.

Quick navigation through the article

Characteristics

In gammarus, the body is curved, covered with a shell, the average body length is 100 mm. On the hind legs there are a large number of bristles that serve as an organ of locomotion. Under the plates of the thoracic limbs are the gills. These very limbs are constantly moving, providing an influx of water to the respiratory organs of the crustacean.

The life span of a gammarus is one year. Can withstand a temperature range of 0-26 ° C. Likes shaded, cool, oxygenated places. The shade of the chitinous cover is light yellow or brown-green, which is determined by food preferences. Periodically, molting occurs when the crustacean gets rid of the old chitinous cover. After the 10th molt, the female becomes sexually mature. Reproduction occurs several times a year, depending on the habitat.

You can get gammarus as food for turtles and fish in the following way. Place some hay or straw on the bottom of the pond. Having found such top dressing, the crustaceans will soon climb between the straws. It remains only to remove the “trap” from the water and select the remaining animals from it. If there is a lot of algae in the pond where the amphipod lives, catch it with a nylon net.

See how to get gammarus in the swamp.

Storage conditions

You can store gammarus in a live, dried, frozen form. To keep it alive, place the crustacean in a bowl of water from the pond itself. At the bottom of the dishes you need to lay out the soil from the reservoir. Place the container with amphipod in a dark, cool place. Set up constant aeration to provide enough dissolved oxygen. Every day you need to change a third of the water to fresh.

Also, the future food for fish and turtles can be put and wrapped in a damp cloth, and put it in coolness and darkness, the bottom cell of the refrigerator will do. The fabric should be washed daily, the shelf life under these conditions is 7 days. If you have caught too many amphipods, you can dry them out. Dried amphipod must be from fresh crustaceans, unspoiled. Before drying, dip the crustaceans in hot water, but not boiling water. Strong heat treatment leads to the destruction of vitamins and deterioration of feed quality.

Drying future food for fish, turtles and Achatina snails is necessary in the fresh air. Spread the amphipods in a thin cover on gauze so that air passes from above and below. Gauze can be stretched on a special frame, which is better to install in a shaded place. You can not dry the catch in the microwave or oven. Dried top dressing is best used for the next 2-3 months if it is stored in a leaky container.

Amphipods can be frozen. It also needs to be stored in water from a natural reservoir. Before freezing, rinse, dry in the fresh air. Divide all portions so that their fish will eat within a few days. It is better to freeze crustaceans at a temperature of -18-25 ° C in the freezer. The product is stored for a long time, about a year, but it is better to use it faster.

Nutritional value of gammarus food

You can buy gammarus as food for fish, turtles and Achatina snails at specialized retail outlets. To buy a live amphipod, you will need a trip to the bird market. Dry and frozen food is best purchased at a pet store, or from a farmer who breeds these animals. World-famous manufacturers of feed from gammarus: Sera, Tetra, Otto, Tropical, Hagen. Look at the date of manufacture of the product and the expiration date. Due to the violation of the integrity of the packaging, the food will need to be used for the next 3 months.

Look at astronotus suffocation with dry gammarus.

Attention! You may be allergic to amphipod! The fact is that the chitinous cover of many crustaceans contains strong allergens. Therefore, children may become allergic to substances that are in the chitinous shell. Do not leave children near the aquarium unattended.

The nutritional value of gammarus is high. The feed contains only 13% dry content, of which more than half is protein, less than 10% fats and carbohydrates. The crustaceans contain carotene (provitamin of vitamin A), with the help of which the color of the fish becomes bright. It is undesirable to give only these crustaceans as food for turtles, Achatina snails (and they love such food very much) and fish. Alternate all feeds, make a daily menu of a variety of foods. Amphipods can be given to pets 1-2 times a week.

These crustaceans are large, so they can feed medium and large fish. For small fish and fry, such food can be crushed, and it is enough to grind dry food in your hands. Live or frozen gammarus can be steamed for several minutes in hot water in advance to soften the chitinous cover. Then such food can be cut into pieces and given to pets.

For snails, Achatina gammarus should be given every 2-3 days. It should be served unground, preferably live or frozen. But there is one caveat - you do not need to put the portion immediately into the aquarium water, but in a small amount, putting it in a special bowl or feeder. In moisture, the product quickly deteriorates, emitting an unpleasant odor. Immediately after feeding, remove uneaten food debris, even those that Achatina dragged along the bottom. Unfortunately, if the food is stored incorrectly, Achatina can become poisoned, so attach great importance to the quality of the product.

Live gammarus can be given as food for, but in small quantities. It is not recommended to give the product dry. The more varied the food for them, the better. To keep your pets healthy, do not ignore the rules for compiling a feeding ration. It is desirable that it be varied and rich in different products.

Feeding aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles

Creating a balanced diet for captive aquatic and semi-aquatic tortoises is easier than for terrestrial tortoises. Predators have a much higher metabolic rate, which is necessary for the rapid breakdown of proteins and the removal of toxic products of this breakdown. Their digestive tract is much shorter.

Too much protein can be extremely harmful, but for aquatic species, there is also the problem of not enough protein. Typically, a protein-deficient state is found in carnivorous or semi-carnivorous turtles that have been kept on a strict plant-based diet (often due to the ignorance of their owners) and have haphazardly survived. This may also be the case in cases of severe underfeeding, starvation, or in cases of general inept approach to animal feeding. Severe cases will require referral to a specialist, as treatment includes infusion therapy with solutions containing a combination of electrolytes, amino acids, glucose, and B vitamins in an easily assimilated form.

Aquatic species of turtles usually feed in water, so food remains often cause significant damage to its quality. For this reason, it is best to avoid excessively fatty foods, as well as overfeeding. Any excess feed will clog the filters. Most adult turtles need to be fed 2-3 times a week.

Diet for aquatic turtles.
Although all-aquatic turtles are primarily carnivorous, this does not mean that their diet must consist entirely of meat. They absolutely need a varied and balanced diet. It should also be noted that many species become less carnivorous with age. The ratio of meat and vegetable components in the diet of aquatic turtles will vary depending on the species. The recommendations below are only a general idea of the diet and are not absolute.

meat component(approximately 65% - 90 96, depending on the species): live fish, earthworms, mice, snails and mollusks, frogs, etc.

vegetable component(approximately 35% or less depending on the species): various types of lettuce, carrots, clover, a small amount of vegetables and fruits, seaweed can also be used, etc.

Food - both meat and vegetable - these turtles are usually placed in water, vegetables and fruits, if desired, can be cut into pieces.

Diet for semi-aquatic turtle species.
Box turtles and most other semi-aquatic species should have both a meat and vegetable component in their diet. In addition, they may need vitamin and mineral supplements. The ratio of meat and vegetable components is affected not only by age (teenagers tend to be entirely carnivorous), but also by the type of turtle. Most box turtles are omnivores and may feed more frequently.

The diet for semi-aquatic species is as follows:
vegetable component(50)%: berries, lettuce, carrots, dandelion greens, cauliflower, fruits, a small amount of cabbage leaf, flowering plants, etc.
meat component(50) %: live crickets pre-sprinkled with vitamin-calcium mixtures, earth snails and slugs, newborn mice, earthworms, etc.

Semi-aquatic turtles can eat both in water and on land - it depends on the type of animal, so we will give specific recommendations in the chapter on description of species of semi-aquatic and aquatic turtles.

All proposed diets are only the basis for experimentation. Different types of animals have their own food preferences. Ideally, the diet should constantly change, be very diverse, as this will bring it closest to the natural, characteristic of aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles in nature.

Feeding pregnant females and young.
It is often assumed that the turtle's calcium requirement is relatively stable, but this is actually not the case. It varies considerably with sex and age and is much higher, for example, in females during pregnancy and in both sexes during any periods of rapid growth - compared with adults and old animals. Therefore, during pregnancy and for young people, the amount of calcium in the diet must be increased. Carnivorous turtles usually get their calcium from the bones by eating whole fish or other animals. Young and pregnant animals should be fed daily, and their diet should be even more varied than adult and non-pregnant turtles.

Factory feed and vitamin and mineral supplements.
Dry foods are very convenient for feeding turtles, so owners are often extremely interested in using them. However, not every type of food is suitable for regular consumption by your pets. Of course, in every annotation for such food you can find references to a "fully balanced diet", but this is far from always the case. Granulated food for aquatic turtles most often contains fishmeal, vegetable components, and dried crustaceans. They often lack the necessary macro- and microelements and even vitamins.

The ratio of calcium and phosphorus also usually requires correction. Such foods will not be able to provide young turtles with normal growth, and even adult animals may feel discomfort when they are used for a long time. In addition, many animals refuse to eat them - even in the presence of special flavors. However, there are a fair number of animals raised almost entirely on dry food and doing well. Therefore, when choosing a quality feed, such experiments can be carried out.

The most recognized brands among professionals are commercial feed brands such as "Repto Min" (Tetra), "Nutrafin" (Hagen) and "Turtle Food Flakes" (Wardley).

Mistakes in feeding aquatic species.
The main mistake made when feeding carnivorous species is the lack of food diversity. Owners are most comfortable feeding the turtles with meat and fish from the store, and most often they do just that. Usually no one thinks about the fact that these products lack vitamins, calcium and other macro- and microelements necessary to maintain the health of adult animals, not to mention the growing young.
Due to the fact that turtles are extremely hardy animals, they can survive for several years on such a diet without showing clinical symptoms of any disease, or, more often, the owners simply do not notice these symptoms. Unfortunately, when such symptoms finally become noticeable, it is often too late.

Carnivorous aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles need to regularly eat whole small animals, along with bones and internal organs, which contain the necessary vitamins and calcium, to fully maintain life. In the case of proper feeding, additional vitamin and mineral supplements are not required for aquatic turtles.

Summarizing the above, we note the main points:

■ you can not feed aquatic turtles with meat and fish without bones and entrails;
■ do not feed aquatic turtles any one type of food;
■ even if diagnosed with hypovitaminosis, turtles should not be given vitamins orally without consulting a doctor, especially vitamins A, E and D3.

Video: feeding red-eared turtles.