Golden head turtle

Golden-headed turtles are known as Huangyuan box turtles, and other nicknames include yellow board turtles, snake turtles, broken plate turtles and so on. In China, it is mainly distributed in Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Guangdong and other places. Foreign countries are mainly distributed in Japan.

1. Morphological characteristics.

The golden head turtle's back armour is crimson, the center is high, and there are light yellow cliff ribs, each shield has a fine concentric circle, the back nail edge, shield, ventral surface are yellow, so there is the name "yellow box turtle". The ventral nail is black and spotless. The top of the head is light olive, and there is a golden stripe on the eye socket, which extends from thin to thick to the neck. The left and right stripes meet at the top of the head to form U-shaped stripes, and the sides are yellowish. The limbs are yellowish brown with large scales. The tail is brown and short. Because its head is yellow, so most people call it "golden head turtle".

2. Male and female discrimination

The golden-headed turtle weighs up to 150 grams before it can distinguish between the female and the male. The belly of both female and male turtles are flat. The back of the female turtle is small, the posterior edge of the abdominal nail is slightly semicircular, and the tail is short. On the other hand, the protuberance of the dorsal nail of the male tortoise is taller and longer, the base of the tail is thicker, and the cloacal hole is far from the posterior edge of the dorsal nail. In addition, for golden head turtles of the same age, females are larger than males.

3. Main points of feeding

Because golden-headed turtles belong to semi-aquatic turtles and cannot live in deep waters, the breeding ponds should be arranged as water and land, and the water depth should not be higher than the height of their back armor, so it is appropriate for the turtles not to float in the water. A single feeding pool should not be too large, about 25 square meters. The pond is provided with a feed table, a rest ground, and a spawning ground in the turtle pond. A 50 cm high anti-escape wall is built around the breeding pond. Golden-headed turtles like to eat plant foods such as animal fish and shrimp, @ # @ 254 fish, yellow powder insects, snails, mussels, melons, fruits and vegetables, barley, corn, sorghum and so on. According to the administrator of a turtle and soft-shelled turtle farm in Shunde, in addition to feeding chilled turtles, golden-headed turtles should also be fed with more economical plant feed according to the season of fruits and vegetables, such as plantains and apples, once or twice a day, around noon in spring and autumn, and before 9 am and 5 pm in summer. The daily feeding amount should be determined according to the season, weather, feed quality, turtle size and other factors, generally 5% to 10% of the tortoise body weight. In addition, we should also carefully observe the eating situation of golden head turtles every day, and if we find that there is too much feed left, we should adjust the feeding amount in time. Multivitamins and disease prevention drugs should be added to the feed regularly.

4. Key points of management

The first is to keep the breeding environment clean. Golden head turtles prefer a clean living environment, so it is necessary to regularly check the hygiene of the culture pond every day, and change water and rinse to keep the environment clean.

Second, heat preservation measures can be taken in winter. In early November every year, if some heat preservation measures are not taken, the golden head turtle will gradually go into hibernation, and fluorescent lamps can be used to heat the culture pond to shorten the hibernation period of the golden head turtle, thus prolonging its growth period. In addition, by the end of October, a black sunshade net can be used to surround the breeding pool to prevent cold air from entering, so that the temperature difference between morning and evening is not too big. Generally speaking, the sunshade net is not gradually opened until April and May of the following year.

The third is to do a good job in disease prevention and control. According to the administrator, the golden beetle is afraid of heat and cold, and there will be symptoms such as colds and fever, so it is necessary to strengthen the management of golden beetles in hot and cold periods. In addition, in the process of breeding, attention should be paid to the prevention and control of infectious diseases of golden-headed turtles. Once they are found to be panting, they should be examined in time to prescribe the right medicine.

5. Market quotation

At present, the price of beetle seedlings is considerable, 10 grams of golden beetle seedlings can be sold to 300 yuan / one, commodity turtles to 500 yuan / jin or so. However, it takes more than 5 years for the beetle to grow to more than 1 jin. It can be seen that its breeding time is relatively long, but the older the beetle is, the higher the price is.

The administrator told me that the quality of the golden turtle mainly depends on its appearance, the pattern of the back armor should be relatively clear and neat, and the shell edge should be complete and undamaged. The second is to look at their activity ability, put it on the ground to crawl to be flexible, and the posture is better. In addition, the larger turtles of the same age will have better growth quality. Generally speaking, golden head turtles as ornamental breeding should choose the ones with good appearance. If they are used for cooking, they are not so strict in appearance, so the price will be slightly lower.