Mediterranean turtle keeping at home. Mediterranean land turtle (Testudo graeca). Vitamins and supplements

home A pet can become a true friend and source for a person positive emotions . It is important to know in advance all the intricacies of the care and maintenance of the animal that you plan to have in the family. What does a Mediterranean tortoise look like? A description for children and adults, photographs, as well as interesting facts about the animal are given in the article below. What to feed and how to properly water a reptile? What conditions will be required to keep such an exotic friend as the Mediterranean??

land turtle

What do we know about Mediterranean turtles: habitat Like any pet, the Mediterranean tortoise will require conditions close to natural conditions to be kept in a human home. natural environment . The heat-loving and sun-loving reptile lives, depending on the variety, on the territory of the countries of the southern European region, in semi-desert or steppe areas, in the region Caucasus Mountains

and Transcaucasia. Two of more than twenty species of this land turtle can be found in our country. This is Nikolsky's tortoise, a Mediterranean tortoise listed in the Red Book, living exclusively in the Russian subtropics Krasnodar region

, and Pallas's tortoise in certain areas of the Dagestan Republic. However, selling these rare animals in pet stores and keeping these rare animals at home is prohibited.

Appearance (description)

What does a Greek (or Mediterranean) tortoise look like? A description of this reptile can be found in any reference book. An adult is a medium-sized turtle, only 15-30 cm, with a powerful and fairly strong shell. The weight of the animal is rarely more than three kilograms. The most obvious difference from the equally popular one is the number of toes on the reptile’s paws: this species has as many as five, while the Central Asian “relatives” have only four toes on each paw. The color of the shell is brown, with a pronounced spotted pattern; the color of the young reptile is somewhat brighter.

The age of a turtle can be determined by studying the ring-shaped pattern on the shell: the more rings on the surface, the older the animal. For those who are just planning to purchase a turtle as a pet, it makes sense to immediately learn that such a pet needs to be provided with the ideal combination, nutrition and hygiene - only in this case will the Mediterranean turtle be able to live a long life, at least 25-30 years.

And of course, on initial stage all this will require certain financial costs. Is a pet Mediterranean turtle worth the effort? Will such a pet be able to interest children and become a good alternative to a warm-blooded animal?

Of course, curiosity, the ability to observe the habits and lifestyle of a pet, a careful and responsible attitude towards a living creature - all this can be taught to a child by a Mediterranean tortoise. 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:

• The Mediterranean tortoise completely refutes the assertion that all tortoises are clumsy and slow creatures. Young healthy reptiles move around the house with pleasure: the higher the temperature, the faster speed"Turtle race" In addition, this species is capable of climbing to a significant height for a turtle, clinging to protrusions and irregularities with its claws. For example, they may well climb onto a chair or bed.
• Land species of turtles have excellent hearing and vision, and are able to distinguish odors. Added to this is the ability to remember objects and human faces, and respond to voice intonation.
• Contains phosphorus to one degree or another. Because of this it was noted amazing feature accumulate sunlight(if the reptile spent the whole day exposed to sunlight) and emit a slight glow at night.
• Turtles are hardy and can go without food for very long periods of time, slowing down and hibernating.

Also, each reptile may have its own character traits and habits, which will certainly make it an interesting object to observe and can interest both adult family members and children.

House for a reptile: where to place your pet?

Even before you bring your pet home, you should take care of a terrarium - a “turtle manor”, ​​where a Mediterranean tortoise will feel as comfortable at home as in its natural environment.

This requires a tank, preferably made of thick transparent glass, at least 50x40x30 cm in size. At the bottom of the future terrarium, soil is created: a layer of disinfected soil and on top of it a layer of clean sand or hay, at least 5 cm high. The 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. It is not advisable to install living green plants, if only for fear that the turtle will eat them. Of the required elements in the terrarium you will need to install:

• Equipment for lighting and heating.
• Shelter.
• Feeder and drinker.

If the size of the terrarium allows, you can dig a container under the pond for swimming. The advantage of such a device will be additional physical activity reptiles. But this will also add more worries: you will need to regularly change the water and control its temperature.

The place to install the terrarium should be well lit, but away from drafts and direct rays of the sun. For the winter, you can provide your pet with conditions for hibernation. To do this, the tank with the terrarium is moved to a cool, dark place. Before switching to “winter” mode, the reptile must be bathed and not fed for one or two weeks. The signal for the start of wintering is changes in the pet’s behavior: the turtle noticeably slows down and tries to burrow into the ground.

Lighting

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

Additionally, it is worth installing an ultraviolet lamp in the terrarium. The optimal mounting height for it is from 20 to 40 cm from the height of the pet. Just an hour of operation of such a device will be enough for the turtle to receive daily norm"a substitute for sunlight."

Shelter

A small shelter in which the turtle can rest - a “house” in a terrarium with opaque walls. It is best to buy a ready-made one at a pet store, but if you cannot purchase a ready-made turtle house, it can be replaced with a rodent house, a fixed half of a ceramic flower pot, or a homemade box house made of wood or safe plastic.

Heating

To heat a reptile in a terrarium, a special thermal cord or a small thermal mat is often used. The equipment must be placed on the floor or fixed on the wall in one of the corners of the terrarium (not under the lamp). There is no need to completely cover the entire surface of the terrarium; constant heating can be harmful to internal organs animal.

How to feed a turtle: suitable foods

When choosing food products you should be guided 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 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 acid and dairy products. In addition, grain products (porridge, cereals, bakery products), nuts, potatoes, corn, dates are strictly not recommended.
• Food that can be given for variety, but very rarely and in small quantities. This category includes Exotic fruits(bananas, pineapples, citrus fruits), cucumbers, cherries, asparagus, radishes and radishes, green onions, legumes, spinach and sorrel leaves, beets, seeds, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage.
• Products that are good for your daily diet. These are berries, apples, young shoots of dandelion, nettles, clover, plums and nectarines, persimmons, parsley and dill, pumpkin, lettuce, sweet peppers, peaches and apricots, carrots, melon and peel), kiwi, grapes, zucchini and eggplant.

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

The choice of dry food should be treated with extreme care and caution. Many veterinarians do not recommend including this food in the diet at all, but if necessary, you can feed the turtle with special food marked “for land animals.”

Diet

The feeding regime of a reptile is no less important than right choice food and vitamins. To avoid abnormal weight gain or loss, it is recommended to feed your turtle this way:

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

Vitamins and supplements

If a Mediterranean tortoise lives in the house, caring for the reptile is impossible without properly selected mineral and vitamin supplements to the food. One of the necessary supplements for turtles is calcium. The lack of this element leads to curvature and improper growth of the shell and bone fractures. Calcium supplements are given every one to two weeks, as a spray or loose powder. An alternative to powdered calcium is crushed eggshells.

Additionally, you can feed the reptile with a special vitamin complex, but also no more than once a week. For example, once every 10-12 days you can add a couple of drops of Trivita or fish oil to your pet’s food.

An important question is how much a Mediterranean tortoise can coexist on the territory of a house with other animals of its own or other species. The owners of this claim that due to the low aggressiveness of these reptiles, several Mediterranean turtles get along well in the same territory. However, the size of the terrarium must correspond to the content of such a number of animals. In addition, experts recommend seating turtles in mating season or in the event that individuals clearly demonstrate aggressive behavior to each other.

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

In this article I will tell you about Mediterranean turtle. After reading this article, you will receive all the information on how to keep this turtle at home, you will learn how to select and how to arrange a terrarium for it, you will learn what conditions should be maintained in the terrarium, as well as what to feed Mediterranean turtle.

So, let's begin. Maximum size This turtle's length ranges from 14 to 30 centimeters. In nature, it lives in Southern Spain, North Africa, Turkey and North-Eastern Greece. Hence its second name, Greek tortoise.

This is a rather slow turtle; juveniles are more active. Even though the turtle will spend more time in the terrarium, it needs walks around the room. All walks must be carried out only under your supervision. Once a week you need to give your pet water treatments.

1. Terrarium. To keep one adult Mediterranean turtle you need a terrarium with minimum sizes 50x40x30 centimeters. Approximately 5 centimeters of fine sand should be poured onto the bottom of the terrarium. You need to place a feeder and a drinker in one corner.
2. Lighting lamp. All reptiles need a lighting lamp to regulate the length of daylight. A lamp can also be used to heat one corner. You can put either an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp in the terrarium.
3. Irradiation lamp. All reptiles require UV light to be healthy. At least once a day, your pet needs an hour-long session.
4. Thermal mat or thermal cord. A thermal mat or thermal cord is needed to heat one corner of the terrarium. The second corner should be at background temperature. For my reptiles I use a thermal mat, I simply place it under one corner of the terrarium. The temperature in the warm corner should be 30-32 degrees, the background temperature should be 24-27 degrees.
5. Two thermometers - in a warm and cold corner. Two thermometers are needed for easy temperature monitoring. With their help, you can easily understand where you are underheating and where you are overheating.
6. Feeder. You need to install a wide but shallow container. The feeder is placed so that the turtle does not scatter food throughout the terrarium.
7. Drinking pond. The optimal depth of the drinking bowl is 3-4 centimeters. There is no need to make a very deep container, otherwise the turtle may drown.

This is all necessary equipment, which you should have. If you wish, the Mediterranean tortoise can be kept in groups. They are not aggressive animals.

Now about how and what to feed your turtle. The Mediterranean turtle needs to be fed every day with a small amount of vegetables, fruits and succulent shoots of various plants. The most important thing is that these plants are not poisonous.

Everyone knows turtles. These harmless, slow animals enjoy constant sympathy, especially among children. They can be seen at the zoo, in the pet store and in many people's homes. Central Asian land tortoises usually end up in city apartments from pet stores. large quantities can be found in deserts in spring Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The second type of land turtle - the Mediterranean, often called the Caucasian, Asia Minor or Greek (although it does not live in Greece) - has become very rare. Even herpetologists who study reptiles only sometimes see this animal in nature, which relatively recently was still found in many places on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and in the Transcaucasian republics.

Total for globe there are more than 200 species of turtles, most of which belongs to the family of land turtles. Many large turtles, land giants of oceanic islands, were exterminated by people because of their delicious meat. And no one thought, or rather, did not know that these unique ancient animals many millions of years ago looked the same as they do today.

IN Mesozoic era Reptiles reigned on Earth - they swam in the seas and flew through the air, and the largest of them, giant lizards, lived on land. But in this world everything passes, the golden age of reptiles is over... 150 million years ago, most of them disappeared under mysterious circumstances, which scientists are still arguing about different countries. But some of the ancient reptiles were able to survive to this day, almost unchanged. Turtles that appeared on Earth, which served as the initial forms for modern species, were predominantly terrestrial inhabitants. We learn about the animals that inhabited the ancient land from the remains, skeletons or fragments thereof, and fossilized traces that are discovered by paleontologists during excavations. This is how our contemporaries learned that the largest turtle that once lived lived in water and reached a length of 3.3 m, and the span of its flippers was 3.6 m!

Modern land turtles live in Africa, Asia, Southern Europe and America, but in the Soviet Union there are only 2 species.

The uniqueness of turtles lies in the fact that their body is covered with armor, a shell, which serves as a means of protection for them. The carapace consists of 2 shields: the dorsal (carapace) and the abdominal (plastron), connected to each other by a tendon ligament or a bone bridge. By the shape of the shell, you can determine where the turtle lives - on land or in water. Terrestrial turtles have a high, dome-shaped, often tuberculate shell; in species that live in water, especially marine ones, it is flattened, smooth, and streamlined. Unlike other reptiles, only the cervical and caudal sections of the spine are mobile in turtles, while the rest grows to the carapace. Toothless, with sharp horny edges, the jaws of turtles are perfectly adapted to feeding. plant foods, although on occasion they do not disdain animals. Turtles, like all reptiles, breathe with lungs that have a complex, spongy structure. They hear almost nothing, perceiving sounds only of low and medium frequencies; their underdeveloped hearing is compensated by their well-developed vision and sense of smell.

Turtles are inhabitants of southern latitudes. They usually inhabit open spaces, steppes, savannas and deserts. Only a few species are found in damp and wooded areas.

In case of danger, these clumsy animals do not flee, but hide in their shell, pulling their head and paws inside. In this case, the neck bends in a vertical plane in an S-shape and is pulled together with the head under the shell. Therefore everything land turtles together with freshwater and others, they are united in the suborder of cryptonecked turtles.

Mediterranean turtle - typical representative his family and order of turtles. Therefore, by talking about it, we will thereby give an answer to everyone who wants to learn more about these animals.

The Mediterranean turtle is a medium-sized animal, up to 30-35 cm long. On top it is colored yellowish-brown or light olive, usually with dark spots on the scutes. The carapace is convex and smooth, slightly serrated along the posterior edge. There are large symmetrical shields on the head. There are scutes of the same size, but overlapping each other, on the outer surface of the front legs, and on the hips there is one large conical tubercle. There are 5 claws on the front paws, not 4, like the Central Asian turtle.

Except this turtle Soviet Union distributed in North Africa, southern Spain, eastern Balkan Peninsula, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Western Asia.

In the Western Caucasus, this animal is found in forest clearings, gardens and vineyards, and meadows. The habitat of the turtle in Transcaucasia is different in that it prefers dry steppes and mountain slopes covered with bushes and open forests. In nature, the Mediterranean tortoise feeds on lush herbaceous vegetation, mainly legumes and asteraceae, while eating green parts of plants and flowers, and sometimes fruits and berries. The turtle also consumes small amounts of animal food - mollusks, worms, insects. There is evidence that these turtles often eat the chicks of ground-nesting birds and even use excrement as food. In Bulgaria, a closely related species, the Balkan tortoise, was twice observed eating the carcasses of a lamb and an adult tortoise. Sometimes animals walk along the seashore and pick up food scraps thrown ashore. In captivity, turtles are fed a variety of vegetables and fruits, lettuce, dandelion leaves and other green plants.

The Mediterranean tortoise is a diurnal animal, so they are easy to observe both in nature and in captivity. In summer, they are active in the morning and evening, and turtles spend the hottest hours in the shade to avoid overheating. In winter, turtles hibernate, having previously accumulated the fatty substances necessary to maintain life during this period. They use fox and badger holes, crevices between stones, or burrow themselves into the ground to a shallow depth as shelters.

In spring, with the onset of warm days and the appearance of lush vegetation and flowers, turtles wake up and crawl to the surface. Soon they begin the most crucial period associated with procreation. Peaceful, phlegmatic male turtles turn into furious creatures - they bite each other's heads and paws, causing injury, tearing out pieces of skin and meat. But these mating tournaments do not end in death - the stronger male wins, but the weaker and younger one does not leave the winner alone for a long time. The male shows his attention to the female in a rather unique way, driving her out of hiding with blows of the shield and bites on the legs. The hoarse growling sounds of males are heard only during this period. From the end of May, the female lays 2-8 white, almost spherical eggs with a diameter of up to 35 mm 3 times per season. In a well-heated place in wet soil the female digs a special hole with her hind limbs. In soft soil, such a hole can be quickly dug - Central Asian tortoise, for example, it does this in 10-15 minutes. Having dug a hole, the turtle lies motionless for some time, and then begins to lay eggs. Having laid her eggs, she rests, after which she buries the hole and compacts the loose soil with a plastron. Having completed this important process, the female leaves the nest forever.

After 2-3 months, the turtles, ready for hatching, begin to drill into the shell with a sharp horny tooth - an egg tooth located at the end of the beak, break off a piece of the shell, stick their heads out, and then, vigorously working with their hind limbs, crush the shell and climb out. Young turtles, as a rule, do not appear on the surface until the following spring, but burrow even deeper in the vicinity of the nesting chamber.

During hibernation, they feed from the yolk sac, and next spring, already stronger, they appear on the surface. Turtles grow very slowly and reach sexual maturity only at 12-14 years of age.

Intensive growth occurs before the onset of maturity, and the age of turtles during this period can be determined by the number of concentric rings on the horny scutes of the shell. Turtles are among the longest-lived animals in the animal kingdom and have been known to live for up to 100 years in captivity.

In our country, the Mediterranean turtle was common on the western coast of the Black Sea, and many vacationers did not deny themselves the pleasure of bringing home a living souvenir. One of the last refuges of turtles on the Sochi seaside was the yew box grove of the Caucasian state reserve, where they were met in large clearings in oak forests. In 1981, the reserve staff organized a special search, but they were unable to find a single specimen, and only a single male was found in the grove the following year. Now numerous tourists visiting the yew-boxwood grove see the turtle not in nature, but in an enclosure.

In the eastern part of its range, in Transcaucasia, the Mediterranean tortoise is still found in natural habitats, and in last years Positive results have been obtained for its breeding in captivity.

Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758

Description: A medium-sized turtle with a high, more or less jagged shell at the back, up to 290 mm long along the upper edge. Forelegs with 5 claws. There is one distinct horny tubercle on the back of the thigh. The color above is yellow or brownish-olive with dark, sometimes almost black spots, clearly defined in young individuals and gradually blurring and increasing in size in adults. The underside is one color or has irregular dark spots.

Spreading: Black Sea subspecies T. g. nikolskii, described from the Sochi region, back in the 30-40s. was widespread on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, from Anapa to the north. to Sukhumi in the south. Currently, the range has decreased significantly and is divided into a number of isolated, more or less extensive populations. The turtle has almost completely disappeared along the stretch of coast from Tuapse to Adler. To the north habitat in the triangle between Anapa, Nizhnebakansky and Gelendzhik, where until relatively recently the turtle was common, its numbers have also fallen sharply. Findings in the Khosta yew-boxwood grove of the Caucasus Nature Reserve have not been confirmed for a long time. Outside Russia, the species is found in Georgia, northern. Africa, in southern Spain, in the east parts of the Balkan Peninsula, Western Asia, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Transcaucasian subspecies T. g. ibera is found in the foothills Caspian lowland southeast Dagestan, where the north. the boundary of its range has not been precisely established.

Habitat: In the Black Sea region it lives in dry bush thickets, juniper woodlands and forests on adjacent slopes. Penetrates into cultivated lands, vineyards, orchards and tea plantations. In foothill Dagestan, it also inhabits preserved areas of virgin semi-deserts on foothill slopes and in some places penetrates coastal dunes. It feeds on succulent herbaceous vegetation, in particular legumes and asteraceae, also eating berries and fruits. It can nibble on foliage from the lower branches of the tree and jasmine. Less commonly, it eats mollusks, worms and other invertebrates. After wintering, which it often spends burrowing into old holes of badgers or foxes, it appears in March or early April. Immediately upon awakening, mating begins. From approximately the end of May throughout the summer, females, usually three times per season, lay 2-8 eggs, burying them in a hole dug in the ground. The eggs are spherical, 32-36 mm in diameter, weighing up to 23 g. The incubation period is about 3 months. Young turtles, up to 45 mm long, hatch in the nesting chambers and usually overwinter here, appearing on the surface only next spring. Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 11-13 years. They are active during the day, hiding from overheating in bushes and under the forest canopy.

Number: All in. parts of the range in the region between Anapa, Nizhnebakansky and Gelendzhik, according to estimates in 1987, 6-8 thousand individuals lived on an area of ​​2 thousand m2. The total number of turtles in the Black Sea region probably does not exceed 10-15 thousand individuals and continues to decline. The main factors for the decline in numbers are the intensive recreational use of the territory within the range, which is almost entirely located in the resort area. Uncontrolled catching of animals by tourists and holidaymakers and mechanical tillage of the soil, which destroys masonry, have a negative impact. The current range of the subspecies has split into genetically isolated populations, within which inbreeding occurs due to low numbers. Many mature females remain unfertilized due to an imbalanced sex ratio. Within Dagestan, where the subspecies T. g., which penetrates here from Transcaucasia, lives. ibera, the situation with its numbers is more stable, however, its decline is also observed here, especially in the delta of the river. Samur and in the coastal lowlands of the Caspian Sea.

Security: Listed in the IUCN-96 Red List, Appendix 2 of CITES. Is under protection in Caucasian Nature Reserve(yew-boxwood grove) and the Pitsundo-Myussersky Nature Reserve, where its numbers are extremely small. The only radical means for preserving the Black Sea turtle subspecies, as well as the entire complex of vulnerable species of reptiles and other animals living in its habitat, is the creation of a National natural park area up to 250 km2. The first step might be to create Novorossiysk reserve in the area from Cape Utrish to the Dzhubga region in the south. The Mediterranean tortoise reproduces relatively easily in captivity, in particular, it is successfully bred in the Moscow Zoo. Reintroduction into nature of young animals obtained in captivity is possible.

The Mediterranean (Greek, Caucasian) turtle is a small reptile of the land turtle family. The length of the shell does not exceed thirty centimeters. Males are slightly smaller. Their shell can only reach twenty-three centimeters. The body of the turtles is sand-colored, with spots of brown shades. The ventral part is also light. The shell is almost black, decorated with yellow spots. The legs are short. Toes can be seen on the forelimbs.

The habitat of Mediterranean turtles is expanding in the territory North Africa, Southern Europe, Asia. You can see an animal of this breed in the steppe zones, near the foot of the mountains, in sparse forests. Caucasian turtles cannot tolerate heat, so activity is observed in the evening and early morning. The reptile prefers to rest, hiding under some small plant. Most often it can be seen between stones, under bushes. The turtle’s body reacts negatively to a sharp drop in temperature, so the animals sleep all winter. At the beginning of spring they wake up. At this time, young couples can give birth to offspring. You can distinguish a male from a female by the shape of its shell. In males it is more voluminous.

Recently, Greek tortoises have been taken as pets. This decision is explained by the fact that this breed of reptile is quite hardy. With proper care, the pet can live up to thirty years. Before buying a turtle, take care of housing. A terrarium or aquarium is perfect. There should be room for the animal in it, so you should decide on the breed of turtle in advance. Cover the bottom of the “shelter” with a thick layer of a special substrate (sand, peat). At the bottom you can plant small plants (oats, millet, other grains). The sprouts will serve as additional food for your pet. It is not recommended to plant two males in one terrarium at once. Sometimes they can provoke conflicts that will negatively affect the health of one of the animals. It's better to buy a couple. Individuals of different sexes get along well together. Later they can give birth to offspring. Some time after mating, future mom begins to lay eggs. The female buries them shallowly in the soil. It is recommended to immediately transfer the eggs to a special container. This will protect the embryos from injury and premature hatching. In the incubator, the eggs are kept under special ultraviolet paws for four months. Newborn babies (about five centimeters in length) are born completely unprotected. At first, they perceive the environment poorly.

Adult turtles eat almost everything. You can safely give fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and boiled chicken eggs. Dairy products are also beneficial for growing reptiles. You can buy special food at the pet store. Nutritional supplements, vitamins. Change the water in drinking bowls daily. Remember that turtles are used to light. Therefore, take them outside regularly. The sun's rays are very beneficial for the animal.