Mediterranean turtle at home: description, features of content and interesting facts

A pet can become a real personfriend and source of positive emotions. It is important to know in advance all the subtleties of the care and maintenance of the animal that is planned to be introduced into the family. What does a Mediterranean turtle look like? Description for children and adults, photos, as well as interesting facts about the animal are given in the article below. What to feed and how to properly water the reptile? What conditions will be required to maintain such an exotic friend as the Mediterranean land tortoise?

What we know about Mediterranean turtles: the habitat

Like any pet, the Mediterranean turtleIt will require conditions close to the natural environment for the housing of a person. The thermophilic and sun-loving reptile lives, depending on the variety in the countries of the southern European region, in the semi-arid or steppe region, in the Caucasus Mountains and Transcaucasia.

Two of the more than twenty varieties of thisland tortoise can be found on the territory of our country. These are the turtles of Nikolsky, listed in the Red Data Book, a Mediterranean tortoise that lives exclusively in the Russian subtropics of the Krasnodar Territory, and the Pallas tortoise in parts of the Dagestan Republic. However, selling in pet stores and keeping houses of these rare animals is prohibited.

Appearance (description)

What does the Greek (or Mediterranean)turtle? The description of this reptile can be found in any directory. An adult is a small, only 15-30 cm, turtle with a powerful and fairly strong shell. The animal's weight rarely exceeds three kilograms. The most obvious difference from the no less popular Central Asian turtle is the number of fingers on the reptile's legs: this species has as many as five, while the Central Asian "relatives" have only four fingers on each foot. The color of the shell is brown, with a pronounced mottled pattern, the color of the young reptile is somewhat brighter.

The age of the turtle can be determined by studying the ring-shaped pattern on the shell: the more on the surface of the rings, the older the animal.

What is interesting about a home tortilla?

For those who only plan to purchase a turtle inas a pet, it makes sense to learn that such a pet needs to be provided with the perfect combination of external conditions, nutrition and hygiene - only in this case the Mediterranean tortoise can live a long life, at least 25-30 years.

And of course, at the initial stage all this will requirecertain financial costs. Is it worth the home turtle such efforts? Can such a pet interest children and become a good alternative to a warm-blooded animal?

Of course, curiosity, abilityto observe the habits and way of life of a pet, careful and responsible attitude towards a living creature - the Mediterranean tortoise can teach the child all this. Interesting facts about this reptile, discovered by scientists, allow us to conclude that the turtle will not become a "living toy", but a real friend. Here are just a few interesting details:

• Mediterranean tortoise completely refutesthe assertion that all turtles are slow and slow creatures. Young healthy reptiles move around the house with pleasure: the higher the temperature, the faster the speed of the "turtle run". In addition, this species is able to climb a significant height for the turtle, clinging to claws for projections and irregularities. For example, they can easily get on an armchair or a bed.
• Land turtles have excellent hearing and sight, are able to distinguish smells. To this is added the ability to memorize objects and human faces, to respond to voice intonation.
• In one way or another, the turtle shell containsphosphorus. Because of this, an amazing feature is noted to accumulate sunlight (if the reptile spent the whole day under the influence of sunlight) and emit a small glow at night.
• Turtles are hardy and can do without food for a very long time, slowing down and hibernating.

Also, each reptile can have its owncharacteristics of nature and habits, which, of course, will make it an interesting object for observation and will be able to interest both adult members of the family and the child.

A house for a reptile: where to settle a pet?

Even before you bring a pet home, it's worthtake care of the terrarium - a "turtle farm", where the Mediterranean tortoise at home will feel as comfortable as in a natural environment.

This requires a reservoir, the best of which isthick transparent glass, the size of at least 50x40x30 cm. At the bottom of the future terrarium is created a soil: a layer of decontaminated soil and on top of it a layer of clean sand or hay, at least 5 cm high. Further design of the terrarium depends on the imagination of the owner: the relief can be decorated with small clean stones or wooden elements, artificial plants. Live green plants are undesirable, at least for fear of the turtle eating them. Of the required elements in the terrarium will need to establish:

• Equipment for lighting and heating.
• Shelter.
• Feeding trough and drinking bowl.

If the size of the terrarium allows, you can dig upcapacity under the swimming pool. The plus of this device will be the additional physical activity of the reptile. But the worries at the same time will increase: it will be necessary to regularly change the water and monitor its temperature.

The location for installation of the terrarium should be goodilluminated, but far from drafts and direct sun rays. For the winter, the pet can provide conditions for hibernation. To do this, the tank with the terrarium is moved to a cool, darkened place. Before moving to the "winter" mode, the reptile needs to be repurchased and not fed for one or two weeks. The signal for the beginning of wintering is a change in the behavior of the pet: the tortoise noticeably slows down and tries to burrow into the ground.

Lighting

To create the necessary lighting in the terrariuma powerful lamp fitted with a reflector is suitable. A lamp of 60-90 kW will perform the function of not only the light source, but also the heating. This "artificial sun" is located in the corner of the terrarium in such a way that the reptile has the opportunity to choose the temperature mode that is needed at the moment. For monitoring, the air temperature is measured with a home thermometer: in a "sunny" corner this figure should be at least 30-35˚, while in the opposite "cool" corner it is about 24-26˚. For comfortable conditions, it is not necessary to turn on the lamp for a whole day. At night, in the terrarium, you can also make a "night" by turning off the light source.

Additionally in the terrarium it is necessary to installultraviolet lamp. The optimum height of fastening for it is from 20 to 40 cm from the height of the pet. Only an hour of operation of such a device will be enough for the turtle to get the daily norm of a "sunlight substitute".

Shelter

A small shelter in which the turtle canrest - “house” in a terrarium with opaque walls. It is best to buy ready-made at a pet store, but if you don’t get a ready-made turtle house, you can replace it with a rodent dwelling, a fixed half of a ceramic flower pot, or a homemade box of wood or safe plastic.

Heating

For heating reptiles in a terrarium oftena special thermocord or a small thermotry is used. Equipment must be placed on the floor or fixed on the wall in one of the corners of the terrarium (not under the lamp). It is not necessary to completely cover the entire surface of the terrarium, constant heating can be harmful to the internal organs of the animal.

How to feed a turtle: suitable products

When choosing foods shouldGuided by the following principle: land turtles are natural vegetarians, so the best food for them will be fruits, berries, greens and grass shoots. Figuratively, all the products traditionally considered “turtle food” can be divided into three categories:

• Prohibited (inappropriate): This includes animal food - fish, eggs, meat, cottage cheese and cheese and other lactic and dairy products. In addition, cereal products (cereals, cereals, bakery products), nuts, potatoes, corn, dates are not recommended.
• Food that can be given for a change, butvery rarely and in small quantities. This category includes exotic fruits (bananas, pineapples, citrus), cucumbers, cherries, asparagus, radishes and radishes, green onions, legumes, spinach and sorrel leaves, beets, seeds, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage.
• Products that are well suited for everydaydiet. These are berries, apples, young shoots of dandelion, nettle, clover, plum and nectarine, persimmon, parsley and dill, pumpkin, lettuce, sweet pepper, peaches and apricots, carrots, melons and watermelon (without stones and peel), kiwi, grapes, zucchini and eggplant.

Food should be thoroughly chopped, best of all in the form of a mixture of several products, in a ratio of 70-75% of vegetable food to 25-30% of chopped fruit.

The choice of dry food should be treated extremelycarefully and carefully. Many veterinarians generally do not advise including this food in the diet, but if necessary, you can feed the turtle with special food marked "for the land".

Diet

The reptile feeding regimen is as important as the correct choice of food and vitamins. To avoid an abnormal increase or loss of body weight, it is recommended to feed the turtle in this mode:

• Young individuals - 1 time per day.
• Adult turtles, which do not need to grow actively, feed about 3 times a week.

Vitamins and supplements

If a Mediterranean turtle lives in the house,Reptile care is impossible without properly selected mineral and vitamin food supplements. One of the essential supplements for a turtle is calcium. The lack of this element leads to the curvature and improper growth of the shell and bone fractures. Calcium supplements are given once every one to two weeks, in the form of a spray or bulk powder. An alternative to powdered calcium can be crushed eggshell.

Additionally, you can feed the reptilespecial vitamin complex, but also not more often than once a week. For example, once in 10-12 days you can add a couple of "Trivita" or fish oil to your pet's food.

Content with other animals

The important question is about howMediterranean tortoise can coexist on the territory of the house with other animals of its own or other species. The owners of this species of turtles argue that due to the low aggressiveness of these reptiles, several Mediterranean turtles get along together perfectly in the same area. However, the size of the terrarium should correspond to the content of such a number of animals. In addition, experts recommend seating turtles in the mating season, or if individuals clearly demonstrate aggressive behavior to each other.

As for other types of domestic animals, it is better to protect the tortoise from contact with them. An excessively active behavior of a dog or cat can cause stress and, as a result, a disease of the animal.