CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What kind of bait do soft-shelled turtles like to eat? Do they usually move around at night or during the day?

What kind of bait do turtles like to eat the most? Are they usually active at night or during the day?

Soft-shelled turtles are aquatic omnivores that feed mainly on animal bait. Young turtles mainly feed on aquatic insects, water earthworms, tadpoles, shrimps and other organisms. Adult turtles usually feed on mollusks such as snails and clams, fish, shrimps and animal carcasses. Sometimes they also eat vegetable feeds such as vegetables, fruits and grains. When hungry, soft-shelled turtles will eat their own kind, so when breeding soft-shelled turtles, you must ensure that there is enough feed.

1. What kind of bait do turtles like to eat most?

1. Soft-shelled turtles are aquatic omnivores that like to eat animal bait. Young soft-shelled turtles often feed on aquatic insects, water earthworms, tadpoles, shrimps, etc., while adult soft-shelled turtles usually feed on mollusks such as snails and clams, fish, shrimps, and animal carcasses. Sometimes they also eat vegetable feeds such as vegetables, fruits, and grains (such as beets, barley, wheat, soybeans, water chestnuts, pumpkins, corn, sorghum, etc.). When breeding, you can use silkworm pupae, maggots, artificially cultivated earthworms, and slaughterhouse scraps to feed soft-shelled turtles.

2. Soft-shelled turtles are aggressive and aggressive by nature. They often bully the weak in groups. Once food is scarce, they will even cannibalize their own kind. Therefore, when breeding soft-shelled turtles, you must ensure that they have sufficient feed. The best amount of feed is that they will finish eating within 1-1.5 hours after each feeding.

2. Are turtles usually active at night or during the day?

1. Activity time

(1) Soft-shelled turtles usually forage in the early morning and evening. Because soft-shelled turtles are timid by nature, they usually forage in a time period with less interference. During the day and at night, there are some predatory animals that come out and move around, which will affect the soft-shelled turtles' ability to open their eyes and eat.

(2) If it is artificially bred, feeding is generally done before sunrise and at sunset.

2. Living habits

(1) During calm days, soft-shelled turtles like to lie on the sunny shore to bask in the sun, using ultraviolet rays to kill bacteria on their body surface, thereby promoting wound healing. It can also increase body temperature and promote food digestion.

(2) Soft-shelled turtles prefer a quiet and positive living environment. Once frightened, they will immediately dive to the bottom of the water.

(3) Soft-shell turtles mainly breathe through their lungs. When the water temperature is below 15°C, they hibernate in the mud. At this time, they mainly breathe through auxiliary respiratory organs such as the gills in their throats.

(4) Soft-shell turtles like a clean living environment and are afraid of dirt.

What food does the turtle eat to grow fast?

1. Fresh animal feed

For example, mealworms, earthworms, maggots, clams, snails, large water prawns, various seafood, river fish (freshwater), animal offal, various meats, etc. can be fed directly to farmed soft-shelled turtles. However, the hygiene of these feeds must be ensured. If it is a large-scale farm, in order to avoid diseases, it is best to process these feeds pollution-free.

2. Fresh plant feed

Mainly include fresh vegetable leaves, fruits, water plants, etc. Some plant feeds can also play a medicinal role. For example, when turtles die of skin rot, you can feed them some fresh sentences, and eat them together with medicine, which can play a good auxiliary treatment role. In addition, feeding them some purslane or dandelion in the seedling stage can also enhance their disease resistance and reduce the chance of illness.

Additional information:

Turtle breeding method:

1. Build a special turtle breeding pond

Necessary conditions include: a flat pond bottom, convenient water filling and drainage, oxygenation equipment, unpolluted water source, and a feeding table.

2. Preparation before releasing turtle fry

On the one hand, the pond should be cleaned and repaired to see if there are any gaps, and the pond should be thoroughly disinfected when the weather is fine. The disinfection operation can be carried out with slurried quicklime.

3. Release soft-shelled turtle fry

After 10 days of disinfection, select healthy turtle fry of uniform size (preferably around 280 grams) and release them at a density of 20-30 per acre.

4. Feeding

You can carefully select the above-mentioned animal feed and plant feed for feeding, and the daily feed amount can be 3-10% of the turtle's body weight.

5. Water quality regulation

Every half a month, you can apply some decomposed manure to the pond and add about 25mL of water.

6. Prevent diseases

Disinfect the turtle pond with quicklime once a month, inspect the pond regularly, and add oxygen to the pond when the weather is bad.

1. Choose the right species. Choose according to the preferences of the general public and the needs of the market. There are many species of soft-shelled turtles, but generally speaking, the weight of a soft-shelled turtle is about 500-1000 grams, the body is relatively thin, the color is mainly yellow-green, the back has black and yellow patterns, the bottom of the abdomen is light yellow-white, and there are no spots. Although this type of species grows slower than the soft-shelled turtle with no pattern on the back (commonly known as "plain") and star-shaped patterns on the abdomen, its meat quality and taste are better than the latter, so its value and price are better.

2. Ensure the water quality. The quality of water directly affects the breeding effect of soft-shelled turtles. If the pond water is too rich or even smelly, it is not only bad for the growth of soft-shelled turtles, but also affects the taste of their meat. Generally, clean river water is added to the pond once every week or so, and the total amount accounts for about a quarter of the original pond. Clean the residual food on the table regularly. In addition, plant water hyacinths, which account for about half of the total pond. This can purify the water quality on the one hand, and provide a hidden and quiet place for soft-shelled turtles on the other hand, and try to meet their natural living habits.

3. Do a good job of disease prevention. For ponds with convenient drainage and good escape prevention facilities, stock 2-3 turtle fry of basically the same size (50-100 grams) per square meter. Sprinkle the entire pond with 30-50 grams of quicklime per cubic meter of water every 15 days or so. Unless there are very special circumstances, it is forbidden to step on or catch turtles in the pond. At the same time, use bamboo rafts to build several drying platforms for the turtles to bask in the sun.