Not only cats, dogs and parrots become pets. Many love such a slow, pensive and good-natured creature, like a Central Asian tortoise. Caring for it is simple, but has its own characteristics, since the animal does not belong to the species of purely domesticated. This must be remembered, as improper maintenance can even lead to the death of a reptile.
What kind of beast is this?
In some sources, the Central Asian tortoise is called the steppe, Russian, or Horsfield's tortoise. Horsfield is an American naturalist who loved and watched these animals very much. Central Asian turtles, which are properly maintained and maintained, live up to 50 years. Violation of the regime of detention reduces their stay to 10-30 years.
The steppe tortoise is a typical representative of its family, that is how we imagine turtles: low, with a round carapace, gray-brown-yellow-green in color with dark spots. The tortoise “house” has two shells. The lower one is called a plastron; it consists of 16 keratinized shields. The upper shell - carapace - has such shields 13. They are covered with grooves, like a cut of a tree, and in the same way they determine the number of years a turtle lived. Furrows are constantly added, as the turtle grows all its life. The sides are also covered with small shields in an amount of 25.
This species of turtles is small, their average length is 15-20 cm, females are always larger. Front paws have 4 fingers.
Natural habitat
Where do the Central Asian turtles usually live? Probably in Central Asia. The way it is. In nature, this reptile can be found in semi-desert areas of the Central Asian countries, in southern Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, in the southern regions of Russia, on the coast of the Caspian Sea. They love space, warmth and dryness. Sandy steppes, fields, agricultural crops, clay semi-deserts - in these places Central Asian land turtles feel best. Home care should be such that the climate resembles a turtle natural for its habitat.
Nutrition in nature
Caring for a Central Asian tortoise at home mainly involves proper nutrition, as close as possible to an animal on the loose. What can a turtle eat, which most of the time walks on the steppe scorched by the sun? Vegetable food, and not the most juicy, the remains of fish, worms and caterpillars. Turtles eat crops in the fields, melons, berries and fallen fruits in the gardens. Unlike their water brothers, the turtles of the steppe are not demanding for drinking, which they do not often fall.
Central Asian tortoise: care, feeding
For those steppe reptiles that live in the house, the basis of the diet should be vegetable food, and not very juicy. Ordinary grass, hay is best absorbed. Vegetables, berries and fruits are possible, but carefully. Why? How many sweet turtles gets sweet fruit in nature? Only if he wanders into any garden, by chance. Therefore, even at home, let such food make up no more than 15% of all food. Typically, such turtles like lettuce, carrot tops, dandelions, plantains.
Food should lie in an accessible place for her daily, and what and when to eat, she will decide for herself. You can’t give her the rest from your plate, even with great love for her. It is undesirable to feed with your hands, let the pet has its own bowl and a separate corner for food.
Absolutely forbidden!
The following list of products is not just harmful; a Central Asian tortoise can be seriously affected. Care for her should be organized in such a way that the items from this list do not fall into her bowl ever.
- Plants or parts thereof containing toxic substances. This is the most popular indoor plants, potato tops, jasmine, lily, nightshade, daffodils, rhododendrons.
- Eggshell.
- Fruit bones.
- Peel of citrus.
- Dry food for other types of pets.
- Meat and fish.
- Ready meals for people.
In a turtle, all digestion processes work very slowly, substances that are not intended by nature, are not able to digest. As a result, renal failure.
Possible but careful
These turtle foods are possible, but occasionally.
- Spinach, rhubarb, sprouted beans have the ability to delay the absorption of calcium.
- Tomatoes have the same effect.
- Iodine deficiency is caused by all varieties of cabbage, radish, radish and other cruciferous.
- Mushrooms.
- Pineapples
- In large quantities, do not give sorrel, cucumbers, herbs - spices.
- Sweet fruits and berries.
- Dry special food for turtles contains vitamins and minerals necessary for the animal, but it should not become the main constant food.
Home Features
The Central Asian tortoise, the content of which you decided to take over, will delight the owners for a long time, if you follow certain rules for caring for it.
The first rule. You can’t walk freely around an apartment, house or yard, like a cat or dog, a turtle. It is not a matter of strict discipline. The heat-loving southern creature is very affected even by minor drafts. Harm and dust are also brought to her, which the turtle can find by climbing into the most secluded corners. In addition, it can be difficult to pull it out (or even find it) from these corners. In the courtyard, the turtle can quickly and unexpectedly bury itself in the ground or undermine the fence. This animal needs a terrarium or equipped paddock without drafts and with good lighting.
The second rule. Oddly enough, the steppe animal from the arid regions loves to swim. In addition to simple satisfaction, water procedures make up for the loss of moisture, normalize the work of the stomach and intestines. Thus, the Central Asian tortoise restores the water-salt balance. Care includes bathing 2-3 times a week with plain water, without additives. You can put a bowl of water in the place of residence of the reptile so that it can bathe on its own, only you need to monitor its temperature and change as it becomes dirty. The optimum water temperature is 30-35 o. After the bath, you must wipe the turtle dry.
Terrarium arrangement
That turtle of Central Asian land feels best in the apartment, the contents of which take place in a specially equipped place. Correct terrarium allows you to create as much as possible those conditions that are similar to its usual habitat. Ready-made terrariums, with everything you need, are now sold in many large pet stores, but it’s not difficult to arrange such a corner yourself. To do this, you need:
- Capacity for a terrarium. Standard for the content of one individual is enough size 50x40x30.
- For bedding: pebbles, hay, sawdust or wood chips. You can make two different litter in different places.
- Two lamps. One is an ordinary incandescent lamp for heating, with a capacity of 4 watts per 1 liter of volume. It should illuminate at least 1/3 of the terrarium. The second - 10% - ultraviolet, at a height of at least 25 cm from the growth of the animal. Ultraviolet irradiation is a vital condition for a healthy tortoise.
- Turtles love to hide. To do this, she can put in the corner a small "house". Under it, you can adapt any ceramic pot, vase or build something yourself. One condition is that there are no sharp corners, cuts that could scratch the shell.
- A bowl for food, water.
- If space permits, then a bowl for bathing.
Corral equipment
If the territory allows, you can protect a special corral in which the Central Asian tortoise will live. The care and living conditions in it are the same as in the terrarium. Since there is more open space, you need to monitor the absence of drafts and the appropriate temperature regime. An incandescent lamp will create additional temperature degrees, and the animal itself will choose how much and where to stay. If you equip the corral in the summer on a balcony or loggia, then the ultraviolet light of a natural turtle will be enough from sunlight. In a private courtyard in a fenced enclosure, you can live a turtle for the whole summer, only in a fenced area you need to make a floor: for this reptile it costs nothing to dig a dig.
Steppe turtles, who have been living in the apartment for several years, get used to their territory and even without a fence do not leave their “room”. They share places of sleep, food and waste.
Captive breeding
Sexual maturity in nature is achieved by 10 years in females, and by 5-6 in males. A Central Asian tortoise, the care of which is properly organized, can reproduce at home. For this, first of all, you need a pair of turtles of different sexes. Here lies one problem: it is very difficult for a non-specialist to distinguish a female from a male. Outwardly, they are absolutely similar, the fact that the male is smaller in size is an essential omen only in comparison with individuals of the same age.
Some differences can still be found upon careful examination. On the back of the thigh, the Central Asian tortoise has keratinized tubercles. In males, he is one, while in females from three to five.
The "boys" have a longer and wider tail, on which the cloaca is located farther from the base than the "girls".
The male plastron has a small dent - a hole near the tail.
If the sexual difference is determined correctly and the age of the turtles is suitable, then as a result of love games in the spring, 2-6 testicles appear, which the parents burrow in the ground. Babies appear after 2 months, they reach a size of 3-5 cm. On the fourth day of age, babies begin to eat. The food does not differ from the parent, only needs to be very chopped. After a couple of months, the diet of tortoiseshell children does not differ from adults.
