What to feed a predatory turtle?

Predatory are both aquatic turtles and secondarily terrestrial ones (species that live in moist forests near water bodies). The most important rule when feeding turtles is to feed different types of food and not feed the same food (with the exception of balanced dry food, for example, Sera Carnivor, Tetra Reptomin). In nature, the main diet of turtles are mainly insects and various small amphibians, worms, snails, and small fish. Below in the article will be discussed about all the food options for predatory turtles.

Aquatic insects and their larvae

Predatory freshwater turtles can be given the following types of aquatic insects or larvae: raw gammarus, daphnia, coretra, bloodworm (only from good producers), tubifex. It should be given thawed or live. Bloodworms can cause indigestion.

ground insects

Land insects: grasshoppers, zofobas, locusts, crickets, fodder cockroaches (not domestic), houseflies (not pickled), wood lice, grasshoppers, moth caterpillar, lion fly larva, tobacco hawk caterpillar.

Crickets can be bought not only live, but also frozen, or sublimated, canned, which is convenient for long-term storage. Or you can buy live insects and freeze. !!! The flour worm contains a lot of phosphorus, fat and is poorly digested due to its shell. Beetles are usually not given, they are of little use – only a chitinous cover. Crickets, locusts and cockroaches can be given several times a week, the rest – no more than 1 time per week.

Other terrestrial and aquatic inhabitants

Earthworms, tadpoles, frogs (except poisonous ones), snails (coils, snails, physes, pond snail, mariza, Helix Aspersa terrestrial, Achatina)

River and sea life

Raw crabs, raw shrimp, lean fish with small bones and entrails, live or defrosted (for example, hake, cod, perch, pollock, crucian carp, blue whiting, saffron cod, bleak, small bream and others), mussels without shells (rare), octopus ( tentacles), raw oysters without shells

!!! Fish for young turtles should be given whole (if the fish is small) or finely chopped (spine without ribs), with bones, for adult turtles – in large pieces or whole. Large bones can be finely chopped or crushed. Caviar is given to turtles only as part of low-fat fish. Separately, specially caviar does not need to be given.

Meat and offal

feed mice and rat pups live or slaughtered (usually naked), beef or chicken liver (the best in fat and vitamin A content), beef heart, lamb liver (not fatty 2,9%, but vitamin A is less than in beef). Meat by-products can be given rarely, but feed rodents – more often. From the liver there may be diarrhea and vomiting, as it is a heavy food.