How to Raise Wild-Simulated Soft-Shelled Turtles? Breeding Methods and Key Technical Points

At present, the number of wild soft-shelled turtles is declining sharply, and the main cause of this situation is that unscrupulous traders capture wild soft-shelled turtles for sale, thereby obtaining high profits. Therefore, the birth of the wild-simulated soft-shelled turtle breeding method has fundamentally solved the problem of the scarcity of wild soft-shelled turtle species. Now let's take a look with the editor at how to breed wild-simulated soft-shelled turtles!

Wild-Simulated Soft-Shelled Turtle Breeding Methods and Techniques

1. Pond Conditions

Soft-shelled turtles have the characteristics of liking sunlight and fearing wind, liking quiet and fearing disturbance, and liking cleanliness and fearing dirt. Therefore, breeding ponds should be selected in places close to water sources, with fresh water quality, abundant bait sources, no pollution sources, a quiet environment, supporting electricity, and convenient transportation.

2. Anti-Escape Facilities.

Build anti-escape walls around the pond, usually choosing brick walls.

3. Ecological Environment

1. Set up basking platforms. Set up a small sand beach exposed above the water surface, 10-20 cm, inside the anti-escape wall at the middle of the north side of the pond for soft-shelled turtles to come ashore to rest and bask their backs.

2. Plant aquatic plants. To improve the pond's ecological environment, composite aquatic plants of submerged plants, emergent plants, and floating plants can be planted in the pond.

3. Apply fertilizer. Organic fertilizer should be applied regularly to the pond, and the amount of fertilizer should be determined according to whether the pond water is fertile or lean. Properly maintaining pond water fertility can promote the reproduction and growth of snails, fish, and shrimp, providing high-quality and palatable natural bait for soft-shelled turtles. Fertilization can also promote the growth of aquatic plants and inhibit the occurrence of moss.

4. Release snails and shrimp. To ensure sufficient bait in the pond, river snails and freshwater shrimp should be released into the pond.

4. Seedling Stocking

1. Pond clearing and disinfection. 15-20 days before stocking, use quicklime to clear and disinfect the pond.

2. Seedling stocking. The source of soft-shelled turtle seedlings should preferably follow the path of artificially breeding parent turtles and self-breeding and self-raising, and seedlings of the same batch should be cultivated in dedicated ponds to improve the survival rate of seedlings and reduce seedling costs.

5. Feeding Management

 1. Feeding platform setup 2. Types of bait 3. Bait feeding

6. Water Quality Management

1. Add and exchange fresh water 2. Use quicklime 3. Use biological agents 4. Use oxygenation facilities.

7. Disease Prevention and Control

Disease prevention and control should adhere to the principles of prevention first, combining prevention and treatment, preventing before disease occurs, and treating early when disease occurs, taking the path of healthy breeding, carrying out targeted prevention work, and taking preventive measures before problems arise.

1. Persist in disinfecting seedlings. Before soft-shelled turtle seedlings enter the pond, they need to be soaked and disinfected in a 10-20 mg/L potassium permanganate solution for about 10 minutes. Before accompanying fish species enter the pond, they need to be soaked and disinfected in 3%-5% salt water for 5-10 minutes to kill pathogens and parasites.

2. Disinfect feeding platforms and tools. Every morning, clean the feeding platform with a brush and then expose it to the sun for disinfection. Once a week, use a 5 mg/L bleaching powder or 20 mg/L potassium permanganate solution to disinfect the feeding platform and tools once.

3. Water body disinfection. Regularly use about 10 kg/mu of quicklime to disinfect the breeding water body to prevent the occurrence of bacterial diseases.

4. Regularly feed medicated bait. Once a month, feed medicated bait made from Chinese herbal medicines, vitamins, allicin, and other drugs, feeding continuously for 3-5 days each time, which can enhance the immunity of soft-shelled turtles and reduce the occurrence of diseases.

5. Disease treatment. Once soft-shelled turtles become ill, they should be diagnosed promptly and treated with the right medicine. Drugs used for treatment must comply with the national standards for fishery drug use.

8. Daily Management

Persist in patrolling the pond once each morning and evening every day. Check whether the anti-escape facilities are intact. If damage is found, measures should be taken promptly.

How to Identify the Quality of Wild-Simulated Soft-Shelled Turtles

First, greenhouse soft-shelled turtles mostly have black and yellow back shells, and they are rough and lack luster. Touching the back shell with your hand feels uneven and prickly. Mountain spring soft-shelled turtles mostly have greenish back shells with luster, and thick and plump skirt edges. Touching them with your hand feels smooth and delicate.

Second, greenhouse soft-shelled turtles will have many dark patches on the abdomen, which is thick and plump, and the internal organs will have a lot of fat. The abdomen of mountain spring soft-shelled turtles is naturally white with a pinkish tint, with clear blood vessel patterns, and when cut open, large amounts of fat are rarely seen.

Third, after greenhouse soft-shelled turtles are processed and cooked, the shell breaks with one bite of the teeth, and the bone quality is very loose. The shell of mountain spring soft-shelled turtles is relatively hard, completely different from those raised in captivity.

Breeding Techniques for Soft-Shelled Turtles

1. Making the incubation box: Pine wood is preferred for making the incubation box. It not only has an insecticidal effect, but after becoming damp it is also not easy to rot, nor does it breed mold, and it will not affect the air permeability and water filtration of the incubation sand. The specifications of the incubation box are generally 80 cm long, 50 cm wide, 40 cm high at the front end, and 60 cm high at the rear end, with the upper opening in a slanted shape. Drill 2-3 drainage holes in the bottom of the box to facilitate the filtering of excess water out of the box during incubation. To facilitate observation of the incubation situation inside the box, the upper cover plate and front baffle of the box can be equipped with flat glass, and it can be used after disinfection.

2. Selection of incubation sand: In soft-shelled turtle breeding, pure river sand and pure medium sand (sand diameter 1.43-1.5 mm) have the best effect for incubation, because their particle size is uniform and air permeability is good, which can make the water content, oxygen supply, and heat transfer during incubation relatively uniform. The selected sand particles must be disinfected and sterilized by sun exposure, boiling, or bleaching powder before use. Before use, its water content also needs to be tested, because sand moisture is an important factor determining the hatching rate. Generally, the “hand-squeeze sand test” can be used to identify its moisture. That is, tightly squeeze wet sand in your hand; if no water drips from between the fingers, and after releasing the hand the wet sand forms a clump, and when the clump is gently dropped, it disperses upon landing, it indicates that its water content is about 5-12%, and it can be put into the box for incubation. If water drips from between the fingers when tightly squeezing the wet sand, or the sand does not form a clump after releasing the hand, it indicates that the moisture is too high or too low, and it cannot be used.

3. Laying of sand and eggs: In soft-shelled turtle breeding, the bottom layer of the incubation box is laid from bottom to top with coarse pebbles (pebble diameter 0.5-1 cm), coarse sand (sand diameter 2-3 mm), and medium sand, each 3-5 cm. Then place 2-3 layers of fertilized eggs, with the white spot of the egg (animal pole) facing upward as preferable, with eggs about 1 cm apart, and the upper and lower layers laid in a “pin” shape. On top of the eggs, lay 5 cm of medium sand and then 1-2 cm thick fine sand in sequence. The fine sand is mainly used to maintain moisture and prevent water from evaporating too quickly. On top of the fine sand, lay a towel, and spray water onto the towel to keep the humidity inside the box uniform.

4. Storage of the incubation box: In soft-shelled turtle breeding, the incubation box can be stored indoors where the temperature is relatively stable, the environment is quiet, and management is convenient, such as in plastic greenhouses. If there are only 1 or 2 boxes, they can also be placed in a residential room. After the eggs and sand are placed in the box, a water trough should be placed inside the box along the left and right edges in a slope shape with the sand surface, for newly hatched juvenile turtles to play in the water on their own. To prevent ants and other small insects from harming turtle eggs, a large tray can be placed at the bottom of the box, with water in the tray, using water to seal off the bottom and surroundings of the box. Under conditions that do not affect temperature changes, ventilation should be maximized and indoor light should be increased.

Living Habits of Wild-Simulated Soft-Shelled Turtles

They can be simply summarized as the “three likes and three fears”, namely: liking cleanliness and fearing dirt, liking sunlight and fearing wind, and liking quiet and fearing disturbance. In the natural environment, soft-shelled turtles like to inhabit waters such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds with clean water quality. On calm and windless days, they often lie on sunny shores basking in the sun (commonly known as basking the back), using ultraviolet rays in sunlight to kill pathogenic bacteria on the body surface, promote the healing of injured body surfaces, and increase body temperature through basking to promote food digestion. Soft-shelled turtles are very timid and are very sensitive to sounds and the movement of objects in the surrounding environment. At the slightest disturbance, they dive to the bottom of the water. Soft-shelled turtles are fierce and combative by nature, and bullying among groups is very common. When food is scarce, they will eat their own kind. During the growth period, they mainly breathe with their lungs. When the water temperature is below 15°C, soft-shelled turtles dive into the mud at the bottom of the pond to begin hibernation, relying on auxiliary respiratory organs such as gill-like tissues in the throat area for breathing. In the Hangjiahu area, the hibernation period of soft-shelled turtles is from mid-November each year to around mid-April of the following year.

The above is the editor's explanation of the breeding techniques for wild-simulated soft-shelled turtles and an introduction to their living habits. I believe everyone will have a preliminary understanding after reading it. Nowadays, the breeding industry not only protects wild soft-shelled turtles, but can also bring consumers a better quality experience, and at the same time can also bring considerable income to farmers.