It is quite difficult to look after turtles in bondage, it is even more difficult to be engaged in their cultivation. However if you the fan of these animals, you can try to be engaged in it. Cultivation of turtles will demand from you some efforts.
Choice of turtles
Females and males will be necessary for you for cultivation of turtles, make sure that you have individuals of both sexes. Males, as a rule, have brighter coloring, than females, besides, they make contact with the person more willingly. It is possible to distinguish them and on the lower part of an armor. At males it is usually a little bent inside, at females – is curved outside. One more feature water skulls is that their males it is less by the sizes, than females, are also available long claws on forepaws for them. Make sure that turtles reached mature age, otherwise they will not breed. Males water skulls reach this age by 3rd years, females – by 5 years. Do not try to breed turtles at once after their acquisition, it is possible to do it not earlier than in a year.
Cooling
For successful cultivation water skulls you need to create for them as much as possible the habitat. For this purpose it is necessary to organize for them the cooling period. Water turtles lay eggs from March to June therefore the period of cooling needs to be spent in January – February. You hold during this period (6 – 8 weeks) of turtles at a temperature of 10-15 degrees Celsius. At this time turtles eat very little, you need to leave them alone.
Feeding
During reproduction it is especially important to watch a diet water skulls. Besides usual food it is necessary to increase consumption by females of D3 vitamin and calcium. The healthiest diet of a water turtle can consist, for example, from: earthworms, snails, melon, lettuce leaves, bananas, bilberry, strawberry, peas, sweet potatoes, tomato, flowers of a dandelion and mulberry tree.
Space and place for an otkladka of eggsTo force turtles to breed, it is enough to you to organize for them suitable space, the nature will make the rest. It is important that turtles had a freedom of travel. Besides, the place where females will lay eggs has to be organized. For this purpose it is necessary to build the platform which is filled up with the soft damp soil or sand 20 - 50 cm thick. Here it is necessary to place various stones and logs that the female could hide in them. Water turtles do several layings, in each of which can be from 2nd to 10 eggs. The period of postponement of eggs can take several weeks.
Care for eggs
Turtle eggs have to contain at the normal room temperature. In especially hot days you transfer them to the cool place, you hold them slightly damp and do not allow to overheat under the sun. For convenience of content of eggs use an incubator, previously having built in it a nest. For production of such nest you need any spacious container. Make in its cover several openings for air circulation. Mix vermiculite, peat and a sphagnum moss in equal proportions, wet this mix, wring out excess water and lay in a container. Make small deepenings and shift in them eggs, without overturning them at all. Close a cover and do not remove it, maintain temperature around 24 – 30 degrees Celsius.
Hatching
Depending on the ambient temperature of a turtle begin to hatch in 50-120 days. As soon as it begins to occur, remove the shell remains that it did not disturb other eggs from a nest. The hatched turtle can be in an egg-shell some more days, at the same time it continues to eat the remains of an egg yolk. After that she can be let out in the container with water. You feed them daily with both animal, and vegetable food, it is only important not to go too far in protein in their diet, it can lead to problems with health.