How to Reduce Feed Costs in Turtle Farming

In turtle farming, depending on the season and conditions, adopting the following five feed cost management methods can save 20%-40% on feed costs and increase farming profits by about 20%.

1. Choose bait according to the season. In spring, when other baits are scarce, contact cold storage facilities (plants) and restaurants to buy cheap chicken heads, chicken intestines, mutton scraps, leftover food and so on at one or two yuan per bucket to feed the turtles. In summer and autumn, raise fly maggots and earthworms at extremely low cost or for free, and catch or buy snails, mussels and small miscellaneous fish, which can reduce feed investment by 30%-40%. 2. Change the feeding method. Change feeding in the water to feeding on the bank, so that feed placed in the water does not sink to the bottom, where the turtles cannot pick it up cleanly, causing waste and polluting the water quality and harming the turtles' health. Placing the bait on the bank and letting the turtles climb ashore to feed helps the keepers observe and understand the turtles' feeding habits and feed intake. It neither pollutes the water quality nor wastes bait, forming a positive cycle that saves feed, water and drugs, and can save 5%-15% of feed investment. 3. Adopt polyculture methods. There are four farming methods: turtle-fish polyculture, turtle-frog-loach co-culture, turtle-earthworm co-culture, and turtle-mandarin duck co-culture in the same pond. Relying on the ecological chain can naturally solve 20%-40% of the feed and save 50% of pond facilities. 4. Install incandescent lamps over the pond. In summer and autumn, lights on the water surface can be used to attract various insects to continuously fly down into the pond water for the turtles to eat. This method must be persisted over the long term so that the turtles develop the habit of feeding at night, which can reduce the daytime bait amount by 20%-50%. 5. Make ecological compound feed. According to statistics, mixing 20% earthworms, 20% fly maggots, 40% snail and mussel meat, and 20% small miscellaneous fish for feeding gives the best results. Mix 75% livestock and poultry slaughtering scraps, 1% bone meal, 24% rice (cornmeal or cooked sweet potato are both acceptable), and an appropriate amount of antibiotics and conventional livestock and poultry growth promoters. After mixing evenly, grind into shreds with a meat grinder, and place it on the bank or on a feeding platform for the turtles to eat. This can make the daily weight gain rate of juvenile alligator snapping turtles reach 2.8%, and that of young turtles reach 1.5%. This method saves more than 10% of concentrated feed compared with feeding a single type of bait.