1. Morphological characteristics of yellow-throated water turtle
Yellow-throated turtles belong to vertebrates, reptiles, turtles and tortoises, commonly known as sweet turtles and yellow turtles. The back nail is brown, with three ridges, one protruding in the middle, the two sides are not obvious, the edge is neat, and the back is slightly serrated; The abdominal armor is yellow, with brown and black spots on the outside of each shield, and a few tortoise abdominal armor are all yellow, which is called "ivory plate"; The nail bridge is obvious, the axillary shield is narrow and the crotch shield is small; The head is small, the back of the head is smooth and scaleless, and there are two yellow longitudinal stripes from the back of the eye to the eardrum; The throat is yellow, so it is called yellow-throated water turtle.
Male and female characteristics of yellow-throated water turtle: the female turtle has yellow carapace, short and thick tail, flat belly carapace and short and thick trunk; The color of the carapace of the male turtle is darker than that of the female turtle, the middle of the carapace is slightly concave, the tail is slightly larger and the tail handle is thin, and the trunk is slender.
Second, the living habits of the yellow-throated water turtle
Yellow-throated turtle is a cold-blooded animal, and its body temperature changes with the change of external temperature, but it is slightly higher than the external temperature. In southern Jiangsu, when the temperature is below 1 1.2℃ in the first ten days of each year, the soft-shelled turtle begins to hibernate, and when the temperature rises above 1.2℃ in the first ten days of April the following year, the soft-shelled turtle wakes up. When the temperature reaches above 20℃, the turtle's eating and activities return to normal.
10 from mid-late April to mid-late June, the ambient temperature is between 20℃ and 35℃. At this stage, the yellow-throated water turtle is busy foraging, estrus, mating and breeding. The suitable temperature for the growth of yellow-throated water turtle is 22 ~ 32℃. When the ambient temperature exceeds 35℃, the yellow-throated water turtle appears summer sleep. When the temperature is 20℃, the food intake will be reduced, and no food will be eaten, looking for a wintering place. When the temperature is below 12℃, turtles hibernate without food. In the case of artificial breeding, the turtle pond will be prevented from freezing in winter, and the hibernating turtle will not be disturbed without special circumstances, so as to avoid wasting turtle energy.
Third, the choice of parents.
Breeding turtles with reproductive ability are called parent turtles. Yellow-throated water turtle weighs more than 300 grams, and the female turtle weighs more than 350 grams, which has reproductive ability. The female turtle weighs 500 ~ 1000 grams, and the reproductive rate is the highest. Healthy parent turtles can eat, grow and reproduce normally, bringing economic benefits. If you buy a sick mother turtle, the mother turtle will gradually die during the feeding process, which will bring huge economic losses to the breeder. The quality of parent turtles almost determines the success or failure of raising turtles, so it is extremely important to choose parent turtles. The specific methods for selecting parent turtles are as follows:
1. Check the shape of the turtle for completeness and disability. Broken-limb turtles cannot be kept as parents.
Pull the tortoise's limbs and tail with your fingers. If the tortoise contracts strongly, it is a healthy tortoise. If the tortoise is weak in limbs, it is a sick tortoise.
3. Put the tortoise's carapace on the ground, with its belly carapace facing the sky. If the tortoise can stick its head out and turn over flexibly, it is a healthy tortoise. If it can't turn over for a long time, it means that the turtle is unhealthy.
4. Pat the glans with your fingers. If the neck and limbs of the glans quickly retract into the shell, it is a healthy turtle. If the glans can't retract, or the head and neck retract into the shell, the hind legs support the ground, and the back of the turtle leaves the ground, it means that there are hooks in the turtle, and the survival rate of this turtle is low, so it can't be used as a breeding turtle.
5. See if the turtle's eyes are sensitive to rotation. If the turtle closes its eyes for a long time, its eyes are dull, or its eyes are red and swollen, and its eyeballs are white, which means it is a sick turtle.
6. Put the tortoise in the water, it is better to sink into the water and swim hard. If the tortoise floats on the water for a long time and can't swim, it means that the tortoise is ill.
7. Look at the muscles of the tortoise's tail and limbs. It is best to be full, but be careful to fill the turtle with water. In order to make huge profits, some unscrupulous traders inject water into the abdominal cavity of turtles by injection. The mortality rate of turtles injected with water is 100%. Water-injected turtles have full limbs (actually edema) and can crawl at first, but soon their limbs become edema and paralysis, and the excretory cavity is always wet with mucus.
Fourth, the design of parent turtle pond
Turtles like the sun and fear the wind, quiet and surprised, clean and dirty. Guitang should be built in a place with abundant sunshine, good water quality and quiet environment. Parent turtle ponds can be roughly divided into two types, one is outdoor soil ponds,
The water depth of the pool is 80 ~ 100 cm, and the water level line is basically stable. Because outdoors, it is necessary to shade the turtle pond in high temperature season, avoid exposure to the sun, and keep warm in winter.
The other is an indoor cement pool,
The size of the cement pool depends on the number of parents. In order to make rational use of the area and facilitate beautiful management, the ratio of the length and width of the turtle pond is 2∶ 1, and the ratio of the area of the pond, feeding ground and spawning ground is 2∶ 1∶ 1. These three parts are linked together. The slope of the pool and turtle nest is about 20 degrees, the water depth is 20 ~ 30 cm, and the sand in the spawning ground is 30 cm deep. Cement floors and slopes must be smooth to prevent turtles from grinding their abdominal nails. This pool is 60 centimeters high.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Breeding and management of parent turtles
1. Water quality
The pool water is preferably green-brown, with transparency of 30 ~ 50 cm and pH value of 7.2 ~ 8.5. The minimum standard of water quality is that the pool water cannot be turbid and smelly. When changing water, put half of the pool water and add water to the original water level.
bait
Yellow-throated turtle is an omnivore. Artificial breeding can use mixed animal and plant feed, such as using full-price adult turtle granules. Animal feeds such as fish and shrimp, earthworms, Tenebrio molitor, snails, mussels and animal offal, and plant feeds such as barley, bean cakes, corn, sorghum, melons and fruits. According to the author's years of feeding experience, the yellow-throated water turtle likes to eat animal bait, such as small fish and shrimp, earthworms, pig liver, chicken intestines and so on.
feed
Feeding should be timed, positioned and quantified. April-May and September-June 10, feed 1 time at around 9 am every day. Feed 1 time from June to August at around 7: 00 am and 5: 00 pm respectively. The bait is placed on the bait table or on the farm. The feeding amount accounts for about 5% of the total weight of the turtle.
4. Daily management
Patrol the turtle pond at least twice a day (in the morning and evening), mainly to observe the eating and activities of the turtle and see if the turtle has escaped or been disabled. If a turtle floats on the water, can't swim, or often shrinks in a corner without eating, it is necessary to observe and treat it in isolation. Clean the bait table every day and change the pool water according to the situation. In summer, shade plants, such as cucumber and towel gourd, are planted beside the pool, and a shed is built on the upper part of the pool to prevent turtles from dying of heatstroke.
5. Overwintering management
Before the turtle overwinters, it is necessary to feed more animal feed with high protein so that the turtle can accumulate enough nutrition. Before the turtle overwinters, the turtle pond should be disinfected to avoid diseases during the overwintering. Disabled or sick turtles should be treated in isolation, or treated as commercial turtles, and cannot be raised with other parents for the winter. There is no need to change the water when the pool is full. Try not to disturb the hibernating tortoise. In the cold season, the upper part of the turtle pond is covered with film to prevent turtles from freezing to death. It is also necessary to prevent rats and weasels from hurting turtles.
Six, the mating of parent turtles
In nature, the gonads of yellow-throated water turtles are over 6 years old and weigh over 300 grams, and the reproductive rate of turtles over 10 is high. Under the condition of artificial breeding, parents are put in 5 ~ 10 per square meter, and the male-female ratio is 3∶ 1. When the water temperature is above 20℃, turtles begin to mate in estrus, mating during the day and mating at night, but most of them mate at night. When the female turtle is in estrus, it floats on the water, which is very exciting. 1 There are several male turtles around the female turtle. Among them, 1 male turtle, strong and flexible, pounced on the back of the female turtle, grabbed the edge of the female turtle's carapace with four limbs and bit the female turtle's neck. Two turtles swim in the water, their heads stick out of the water, and the male turtle connector is inserted into the female turtle's reproductive cavity for congestion and expansion. Turtles mate that year and fertilize the next year.
Seven, spawning
Female turtles that have reached sexual maturity lay eggs from mid-May to early August, and the peak period of laying eggs is from late June to late July. The water temperature of 28 ~ 32℃ is the most suitable temperature for turtles to lay eggs ashore. 1 ~ 3 days before spawning, the female turtle climbed ashore, crawled everywhere and chose the spawning site. Turtles generally choose to dig holes on slopes with loose soil and soil water content of 10% ~ 20%. The mother turtle uses her forelimbs to fix her body, and her hind limbs alternate digging. After the soil in the hole is loosened, her five claws hold the soil and lift it out of the hole, and sometimes she sweeps the soil to both sides with her tail. The cave is about 10 cm deep and 4 ~ 6 cm in diameter. This cave is inclined, with a small mouth and a large inside. If the soil is dry and hard, the female turtle excretes water and urine in the accessory bladder and bladder, wetting the soil and making it easy to dig holes. If the cave collapses or is too wet, the mother turtle will find another place to dig.
After the egg hole is dug, the female turtle lies down in the hole and has a rest before laying eggs. When laying eggs, her forelimbs support the ground, her hind legs are on both sides of the cave, the excretory cavity faces the cave, and her tail extends into the cave. After the laying is finished, arrange the eggs in the hole with your hind legs. After laying eggs, scrape the dredged sediment into the hole with hind legs, cover the eggs, and flatten them with abdominal nails, leaving no trace. Female turtles lay 3-7 eggs per batch and lay eggs twice a year. The eggshell of fertilized egg is gray, the egg size is uniform, the surface is smooth and colored, and it does not stick to sand; Generally, unfertilized eggs vary in size, and the eggshell is fragile and sticky with sediment.
Eight, incubation
Under natural conditions, the hatching rate is low because of low temperature, large temperature difference, long incubation time and the harm of rats, ants and snakes. In order to improve the hatching rate, artificial hatching should be adopted.
Turtles patrol the spawning grounds every morning during spawning. If you find an egg hole, don't take it out immediately. 1 Take it again in a few days. At this time, the embryo of turtle egg has been fixed, the boundary between animal pole and plant pole is obvious, and a round white spot appears at one end of animal pole. When collecting eggs, you can use an egg collecting basin or a plastic basin, and the bottom is covered with a layer of fine sand about 2 cm thick. Gently pry open the egg hole with your hands, take out all the turtle eggs in the hole with your fingers or tweezers, plant the white animals with turtle eggs upward and gently put them into the pot.
The incubator is made of special wooden cases, generally 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 10 cm high, with several drainage holes drilled at the bottom. Spread a layer of clean sand on the bottom of the box, 5 cm thick, put turtle eggs on it, cover it with a layer of 2 cm thick sand, and then cover it with a clean wet cloth. After the turtle eggs are put away, you can't move casually. The culture temperature is controlled at 28 ~ 35℃ and the sand content is 5% ~ 10%. Hold the sand into a ball and let it go. In about 50 days, the hatching rate of fertilized eggs is over 95%. Large-scale propagation can be achieved by using incubators or building incubators.
Nine, young turtle breeding
Young turtles hatch from eggs and hibernate in those years, which is called young turtles. The umbilical cord of some young turtles has not yet converged and fallen off, and there are yolk sacs between the webbed. In order to prevent the navel of the young turtle from being scratched, the young turtle should be put in a smooth basin for 2 ~ 4 days, and a small amount of water should be put in the basin. When the webbed turtle is long and complete, it can crawl vigorously, and then it is transferred to the turtle pond for cultivation. Young turtle ponds are generally built indoors, and the area depends on the number of young turtles. 50-80 young turtles can be raised per square meter, 5 5- 10/0g. Put a thin layer of water in the turtle pond, and put one or more bait pots in it.
Young turtles have weak gastrointestinal function, so they should be fed with tender, fresh, digestible and nutritious bait, such as Daphnia, earthworm, cooked egg yolk, etc., and then fed with a mixed feed consisting of minced pork, pig liver, wheat flour and corn flour. 1 day feed 2 ~ 3 times, and change water 1 time every day. The temperature difference should not exceed 3℃ to keep the water clean and odorless. After careful management, young turtles can grow to 10 ~ 20g before overwintering. In April next year, it will be transferred to the outdoor turtle pond for breeding. The feeding method of young turtles is basically the same as that of young turtles, but the stocking density is 30 ~ 50 per square meter, and the bait can be fed to earthworms, Tenebrio molitor, small cut fish, shrimp, snails and mussels.