Culture techniques of flat-breasted turtles

Flat-chested turtles are the most special species of freshwater turtles in China, also known as olecranon turtles, giant-headed turtles, parrot turtles and so on. Flat-chested turtles belong to the amphibious tortoise family. They like to live in mountain streams full of boulders and gravel. They feed on snails, clams, shellfish, shrimp, fish, crab frogs, insects and snails. Let's take a look at the breeding techniques of flat-breasted turtles.

The living habits of flat-chested turtles

1. Habitat: flat-chested turtles are amphibious, mainly living in the water, often living in the grass of mountain streams, lakes and lakes, with sharp claws and strong tails, can easily climb obstacles, but also climb trees, ferocious temperament. I like to live in mountain streams that are quiet and full of boulders and gravel.

2. Food habits: flat-chested turtles begin to look for food and estrus when the weather turns warm in March and April, and have the strongest appetite from May to September. At the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, they get into the sand, grass or dive under the water to hibernate. Wild flat-chested turtles mainly feed on snails, clams, shellfish, shrimp, fish, crabs, frogs, insects and snails, as well as leaves and grass roots when hungry. Under artificial feeding conditions, it can be fed with animal scraps, snails, frogs, fish and shrimp meat, as well as bran, bean cake, fruit or fruit peel, etc.

Breeding techniques of flat-breasted turtles

1. Egg collection: most female turtles lay eggs from July to September every year, and a few female turtles lay eggs in February and March. The spawning time is mostly from dusk to dawn, and some continue to around 8 o'clock in the morning the next day. During the spawning period, it is best not to go to the spawning ground to alarm the female tortoise. The next morning, most of the female turtles have left the spawning ground and entered the pool. According to the traces of the turtle's spawning hole, they can dig up the eggs, gently pick them out and put them in the egg collection box (basin), and then send them to artificial hatching.

2. Hatching of turtle eggs: the egg container of flat-chested turtles should be covered with a layer of wet sand of about 3 centimeters, and the eggs should be arranged neatly to prevent extrusion. Put the fresh and high quality fertilized eggs into the incubator, cover the bottom of the incubator with hand-pinched fine sand about 20 cm thick, bury the turtle eggs one by one in the fine sand 2 to 3 cm deep, cover with wet towels, sprinkle water once or twice a day, maintain 80% humidity, and the temperature is between 25 ℃ and 30 ℃. Young turtles can be hatched in 50 to 60 days.

3. Juvenile turtle management: the young shell of the flat-chested turtle does not need to be fed within 1 to 3 days, just soak it in 8.5% normal saline for a while, disinfect and prevent disease, and then transfer it to a feeding box covered with fine sand. After 3 days, it can be fed to small fish, shrimp, earthworms and a little rice. After 60 days of careful breeding, it can be transferred to the breeding pond for breeding.

Construction of flat-breasted turtle farm

1. Site selection: for artificial breeding of flat-chested turtles, natural environments such as ponds, pits and streams with convenient drainage and irrigation and long running water can be selected and slightly modified. The pool can also be built manually around the pool and paddy field. When building a pond, a brick wall should be built around the farm 2 meters away from the water surface, the wall is about 2 meters high, the inner wall of the wall is polished, and the wall foundation is 30 centimeters deep in the soil to prevent escape.

2. Site construction: the flat-chested turtle covers an area of 100 square meters. A small island of 10 square meters and 40 square meters should be built in the pond. The island has a 35-degree slope, and 30-50 cm thick sand and turtle nest should be arranged on the east side. Dwarf mulberry and willow trees should be planted on the island, and rocks should be stacked on the west side of the island and pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes and other plants should be planted for big-headed turtles to shade, perch, climb trees and look for food.

3, supporting facilities: the flat-chested turtle farm uses the water surface of 1GUBG 3 to plant water floating lotus and build bamboo poles and iron wires on the pond to plant some long vines such as gourds, melons, beans and so on. Some quails, snakes, snails, earthworms, field snails and fish fry should be raised on the island and in the water to prepare sufficient food for big-headed turtles.

Culture techniques of flat-breasted turtles

1. Selection of turtle seedlings: a healthy flat-chested turtle has a smooth body surface, complete epidermis and dorsal ventral armour, full muscles of its limbs, bright eyes, sensitive response to external stimuli, strong limbs when crawling, can support the body and escape quickly, and can swim quickly and sink to the bottom of the water. On the contrary, turtles with weak limbs, weak hands, slow swimming in the water or floating on the surface for a long time should never be selected.

2. Turtle seedling stocking: flat-chested turtles are more wild than other turtles, so it is difficult to adapt to artificial feeding environment. Newly introduced turtles can not be immediately put into the water, should be dry in a cool place for 3 hours, sprinkle water on the surface of the tortoise to keep the turtle moist. One day later, the turtle can be put into the water and begin to feed live bait, such as live fish and shrimp, tadpoles and earthworms. After raising the eating turtles alone for 10 days, the turtles will be put into the turtle pond with a water depth of about 20 centimeters, and gradually deepen to about 50 centimeters after adaptation. After taking the initiative to eat, turtles can be fed with bait such as chilled fish. The feeding order is chilled fish and then live bait, chilled and live bait should be put into the water.

3. Feeding: in artificial feeding, flat-chested turtles eat bait such as small fish and shrimp, earthworms, chilled fish and so on. Before feeding, it is necessary to process large pieces of bait such as fish and shrimp into small pieces to facilitate turtles to eat. Bait is put into the water to adapt to the habit that flat-chested turtles like to eat underwater. The amount of each feeding is 20.3% of the turtle's body weight, once a day in summer and once every two days in spring and autumn. No feeding is required when the water temperature is below 20 ℃. Each feeding time is basically fixed, regular feeding is conducive to the formation of conditioned reflex of turtles, but also easy to observe the eating situation of turtles.