Breeding techniques for North American alligator turtles

The North American alligator snapping turtle is a large freshwater economic turtle species that is mainly distributed in Central America, North America and the northwest of South America. It is now also artificially bred in my country. Here are some tips on breeding North American alligator turtles.

1. Breeding pond construction

The location of the breeding pond should be selected in a place that is sheltered from the wind, facing the sun, with sufficient groundwater and a quiet environment. The breeding pond is designed to be a cement structure, oriented east-west. The area of ​​each pond is controlled within 400 square meters and the depth is about 2 meters. In order to prevent the skin of the alligator turtle from being scratched by hard objects such as cement, a layer of 10 to 20 cm of soft mud should be laid on the bottom of the pond. After the pond is built, it must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with quicklime at a concentration of 150 mg/L and soaked for 7 consecutive days.

2. Seedling stocking

Six days before releasing the turtle seedlings , 100 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer can be used as base fertilizer to fertilize the water. If you want to put a certain number of water hyacinths in the breeding pond, you must first disinfect it with 10mg/L potassium permanganate for 30 minutes, then rinse it with clean water before putting it into the pond. 400 square meters of water surface can hold 2,000 turtle seedlings weighing 50 grams each, which is equivalent to 5 turtle seedlings per square meter of water surface. It is better to control the breeding density at 3-4 per square meter.

3. Daily feeding

The turtle's bait is mainly animal feed such as fish, shrimp, snails, fresh frozen fish, earthworms, animal offal, etc. You can also regularly feed a certain amount of vegetables such as watermelon rind, pumpkin, carrots , green vegetables, white radish, etc. to supplement the various vitamins needed for the growth of turtle seedlings. The feeding management of alligator snapping turtles is very simple. They only need to be fed twice a day. The amount of each feeding should account for 3% to 5% of their body weight. The first meal can be at 9 am and the second meal at 5 pm. Each feeding time should be controlled within 1-2 hours.

4. Water quality management

Alligator snapping turtles are good at swimming and can adapt to higher water levels, but young turtles are poor at swimming, so the water level should not be too deep. A basking platform can be set up to facilitate the rest of alligator snapping turtles. Alligator snapping turtles like clean water. They excrete a large amount each time. The water should be changed in time after excretion. When changing the water, pay attention to keeping the temperature of the new and old water as consistent as possible.

5. Daily management

It is necessary to patrol the pond in the morning and evening, observe the feeding and growth conditions of the alligator turtles, regularly check the anti-theft facilities, do a good job of preventing rats and snakes, regularly clean the breeding pond and deal with alligator turtles infected with diseases. In addition, during the hot season, quicklime should be used for disinfection every 15 days, with an effective concentration of 25 to 50 mg per liter. In winter, you can take heating measures or let the alligator snapping turtle hibernate normally. During hibernation, pay attention to maintaining the temperature, which should not be lower than 2 degrees.

That’s it