What do soft-shelled turtles eat to grow fast and fat? A detailed guide to farming methods

In recent years, the scope and scale of soft-shelled turtle farming in China have been growing larger and larger. According to statistics, the number of soft-shelled turtle seedlings stocked in China this year has reached about 200 million, and it is still continuing to increase, which shows that among farming projects, soft-shelled turtle farming has received particular favor. So how do you farm soft-shelled turtles? What do they eat to grow fast and fat?

1. What do soft-shelled turtles eat to grow fat and fast?

There is quite a lot of feed that soft-shelled turtles can eat. If you want soft-shelled turtles to grow fat and fast, you can feed them the following types of feed.

1. Fresh animal feed

For example, yellow mealworms, earthworms, fly maggots, mussels, snails, large water fleas, various seafoods, river foods (freshwater), animal offal, various meats and so on can all be directly fed to farmed soft-shelled turtles. However, the hygiene level of these feeds must be guaranteed. If it is large-scale farming, in order to avoid epidemic diseases, it is best to carry out pollution-free treatment on these feeds.

2. Fresh plant feed

It mainly includes fresh various vegetable leaves, pieces of melons and fruits, aquatic plants and so on. Some plant feeds can also have medicinal effects. For example, after soft-shelled turtles develop rotten-skin disease, you can feed them some fresh chrysanthemum, to be eaten together with medicine, which can play a relatively good auxiliary therapeutic role. In addition, feeding them some purslane or dandelion during the seedling stage can also enhance their disease resistance and reduce the probability of illness.

2. How do you farm soft-shelled turtles?

1. Build a dedicated soft-shelled turtle farming pond

The necessary conditions are: a flat pond bottom, convenient water intake and drainage, aeration equipment, a pollution-free water source, and a feeding platform.

2. Preparation before stocking soft-shelled turtle seedlings

On the one hand, the pond should be cleaned and repaired to see whether there are any gaps, and when the weather is sunny, the pond should be comprehensively disinfected. Slaked lime made into a slurry can be used for the disinfection operation.

3. Stocking soft-shelled turtle seedlings

Ten days after disinfection, select uniform-sized (about 280 grams is best) and robust soft-shelled turtle seedlings and stock them at a density of 20-30 per mu.

4. Feed feeding

You can choose the above-mentioned animal feed and plant feed for feeding. The daily feeding amount can be 3-10% of the soft-shelled turtle's body weight.

5. Water quality adjustment

Every half month, you can apply some decomposed manure to the pond and add about 25 cm of water.

6. Disease prevention

Disinfect the soft-shelled turtle pond once a month with slaked lime, pay attention to patrolling the pond, and add oxygen to the pond when the weather is bad.

Generally speaking, there are still relatively few diseases during the soft-shelled turtle farming process. Be sure to ensure that the farming density is not too high, and persist in observing the soft-shelled turtles' diet and activities every day. If abnormal soft-shelled turtles are found, they should be taken out in time for examination and handling.