Features/pictures: Red-eared turtle is named after two pairs of thick red stripes on both sides of the back of its head. Red-eared turtle is more called Brazilian turtle in the market, but it is not produced in Brazil, but in the Mississippi River in the United States. The Brazilian tortoise was first introduced. Its shape is the same as that of a red-eared turtle, except that it has no red ears. Now it has been replaced by a red-eared turtle, and people call it a Brazilian turtle. There are typical red stripes on both sides of the glans penis, and sometimes there are red spots on the top of the head. Red stripes sometimes break into two or three spots with different shades, ranging from orange to crimson. Some red-eared turtles don't have these red stripes! A typical newly hatched red-eared turtle has a charming green shell and skin. The carapace is covered with a perfect pattern composed of yellow-green to dark green stripes. As the tortoise grows up, the color of its shell will change. The green background of young adults will be replaced by yellow, and finally become a deeper brown olive color. The pattern on the shell is composed of black lines, stripes and smoke spots, sometimes mixed with white, yellow or even red spots. In elderly individuals, their crustaceans look more consistent because the differences between the patterns and colors of the crustaceans are reduced.
Food: Red-eared turtles are omnivorous turtles. Be careful of your Brazil. He can eat very much. Try to provide them with normal and regular food. Three times a week for adult turtles and once a day for young turtles are recommended. Besides meat, fish, shrimp and insects, it can also accept green plants and aquatic plants well. Commodity turtle food and cat and dog food on the market are more balanced in nutrition. This turtle has a keen sense of sight and smell, so it is good at grabbing food. Under artificial feeding conditions, they like to eat animal food, such as fish, pork, animal offal, mussels, snails, blood worms (chironomid larvae), filariasis (water worms), Tenebrio molitor (breadworms), fly maggots and so on. They also eat vegetables, rice, fruits and other plants. The feeding time of red-eared turtle is not selective, and it is eaten day and night. In the state of hunger, there is food grabbing behavior, and there is a phenomenon of eating.
Feeding environment: Red-eared turtles live in water most of the time and like to live in clear water. So water quality is very important. Change water every 10 ~ 15 days in summer 1 time. If the water color is brownish green or blue-green, it means that the water quality is too "fat" and all water should be changed in time. From June to September, due to the high temperature, changing water should be carried out 3 to 4 hours after feeding. In winter, turtles can change water less or not during hibernation. Turtles always grow when they are young. When you buy them, you will feel that they can be kept in a small low-cost box, but it is not uncommon to grow to a considerable size-30 cm. At this scale, they need spacious space, good filtration system and time spent on it. If you bought them because they were cheap, they weren't worth it. Because if you want to keep it well, you have to spend 100 times more money to maintain it, including boxes, heaters, filters, lights, food and your hard work. This is not an exaggeration. How much food does it take from larva to adult? This does not include their illness and the cost of running these devices. For amateurs, don't just provide equipment because it's cheap, but raise it seriously.
Feeding management: Bread, lean pork and fish can be fed, and young turtles should chop the meat into minced meat to feed. When the ambient temperature is above 20 degrees in spring and summer, the soft-shelled turtle has strong activity and can be fed 3-4 times a week. If fed every day, the weight will increase rapidly, reaching100g a year. It is not suitable for feeding when the ambient temperature is 17 degrees. Go to sleep below 15 degrees.
Habit: Red-eared turtle is lively, more lively than any domestic freshwater turtle. It is sensitive to underwater sounds and vibrations, and will dive into the water once it is frightened. Red-eared turtles belong to aquatic turtles and like to live in clear ponds. At noon, when the weather is fine, they like to lie on the shore to dry their shells, and the rest of the time they float on the water to rest or swim in the water. The activity of red-eared turtle changes with the change of environmental temperature. The optimum temperature is 20 ~ 32℃, 1 1℃, and deep hibernation is below 6℃.
Selection: the selection of turtles can be seen from the aspects of appearance, activity and physique.
1. When the weight of female turtle is 1000g and the weight of male turtle is above 250g, the appearance of red-eared turtle is mature. The appearance is neat, and the nail and abdominal nail are not damaged or festered; The skin on the body surface is anhydrous mildew or ulceration; Fingernails of limbs are intact, eyeball is prominent, but it is not red and swollen, and there is no white secretion.
Others: 1 lighting: Another factor that is often overlooked is lighting. All turtles kept indoors should be illuminated. In addition to normal sunlight, artificial lighting should be provided. In addition to heating them, it is also necessary to provide UVB ultraviolet rays to turtles who have long lacked sunlight. Otherwise, the turtle will be stunted and its soft shell will rot.
2 male and female identification: there is no significant difference in appearance and color between male and female, but there is a great difference in weight. When the female individual weighs1000g and the male individual weighs 250g, sex identification can be conducted. The weight of female individuals can reach1000 ~ 2,000 grams, the abdominal nail is flat, and there are cloacal holes at the rear edge of the dorsal nail; Male individuals weigh less than 500 grams, have long claws and a long tail. The cloacal foramen is located at the tail outside the posterior margin of the dorsal nail. The female body is wider, the tail is shorter, and the cloaca hole is close to the base of the tail; The male is narrow and long, the tail is long and thick, the cloaca hole is far from the base of the tail, and the claws are long.
3 reproduction: the sexual maturity of red-eared turtles is generally 4 ~ 5 years. Some soft-shelled turtles have been raised by artificial heating, and the weight of the second-year-old soft-shelled turtles has reached 1000 g, but they have not been able to reproduce. The mating period is from May to August every year, and the eggs are laid 3-4 times a year, with 1- 17 eggs each time. The number of eggs laid depends on the size of the individual turtle. Turtles usually lay eggs in the early morning or evening. Before laying eggs, they dig 1 8 cm in diameter and 10 cm in depth, and then aim their tails at the caves. When laying eggs, their hind legs are slightly extended, so that the eggs can slide into the cave along the hind legs to prevent the eggs from breaking. After laying eggs, the turtle dug the cave with its hind legs and covered it. The surface of the cave was slightly lower than the ground. The whole spawning process takes about 2 hours. Egg white, oblong. The egg has a long diameter of 29 ~ 3 1 mm and a short diameter of 15 ~ 18 mm, and weighs 5 ~ 7 grams.
Temperature: The water temperature of soft-shelled turtle below 50g should be controlled at about 22-28 degrees.
4 Hibernation: You can fill a container with sand and yellow leaves collected in autumn, and then add a lot of water to make it deeper (even if the surface is frozen and there is temperature below), the turtle will automatically become sand and leaves. In addition, if the tortoise hibernates and doesn't get into the soil, don't dig a hole and bury it. Before hibernation, when the water temperature reaches 22℃, human antibiotics are mixed into the feed to enhance the disease resistance of turtles. When the water temperature drops to 14℃, the activity of soft-shelled turtles decreases, most soft-shelled turtles sink to the bottom and stop eating, and a few soft-shelled turtles only eat a small amount. At this time, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the pond and check the soft-shelled turtle, including skin, head, feces and parasites. Unhealthy turtles can't hibernate, so they should be raised separately. The water temperature should be raised above 20℃ before they can eat, and corresponding treatment measures should be taken. In hibernation, occasionally when the water temperature rises above 16℃, the tortoise will wake up and move. Don't feed it at this time, in case the temperature drops at night, causing diseases such as indigestion. During hibernation, some abnormal turtles, such as floating on the water and weak limbs, should be fished out in time and kept in isolation. After hibernation, with the increase of temperature, the water temperature reaches about 65438 08℃, and the activity of turtles is very small, and some turtles can eat. Don't rush to feed them at this time, wait until the temperature difference between day and night does not exceed 6℃. 1 Before feeding, it should be completely replaced and disinfected.