Five Practical Tips for Saving Feed in Turtle Farming

Rural New Newspaper report 1. Mixed farming of fish and turtles. Make full use of the water surface and reduce the accumulation of residual feed. Besides eating diseased and dead fish, turtle feces can fertilize the water and breed plankton, providing feed for silver carp and bighead carp. In this way, resources are recycled, fertilizing the water, the fish, and the turtles, achieving three benefits at once.

2. Mixed farming of turtles, snails, and loaches. After the turtle pond is cleaned and disinfected, inject new water to a depth of 40 cm, apply fertilizer to cultivate water quality, and introduce 50 kg to 70 kg of river snails or 5 kg to 10 kg of loach fry per mu. After they spawn and reproduce in large numbers, put in the fish and turtles and gradually deepen the pond water. This can provide abundant natural feed for the turtles and lower feed costs.

3. Artificial compound feed. Feed resources can be widely used. For example, turtles originally do not like to eat plant-based feed and agricultural by-products (such as flour, bean dregs, wheat bran, rice, etc.), but after grinding and adding animal-based bait that turtles like to eat (such as fishmeal, blood meal, silkworm pupae, animal offal, etc.), processed into compound feed, it can be eaten by turtles. This can both save animal-based bait and meet the nutritional needs of turtles.

4. Feed rice and potatoes after processing. For example, soak rice in water for 5 hours to 6 hours, sprout it, and after sprouting, evenly sprinkle it into the turtle pond, with a daily feeding amount of 5% of the total weight of the turtles in the pond; cook rice and potatoes, mash them, mix them into balls, place them in a basin, and put it at the bottom of the pond, with a daily feeding amount of 5% of the total weight of the turtles in the pond. This can reduce the amount of animal feed put in, thereby lowering costs.

5. Scientific feeding. Turtles generally crawl ashore to bask in the sun or crawl on the feeding platform from 1 hour to 2 hours after sunrise until before sunset, and feeding is not suitable during this period. Feeding should be at about 8 a.m. and about 6 p.m. every day. The daily feeding amount should also be scientifically determined according to factors such as the size of the turtles and the weather, water temperature, turtle activity, food intake, and growth. Generally, the daily feeding amounts for young turtles and adult turtles are 5% to 6% and 15% to 20% of the total weight of the turtles in the pond, respectively. Overstarvation and overfeeding should be prevented, and it is best if the feed is finished in about 1 hour after feeding.