The price of Burmese tortoises is economical and the feeding method is relatively simple, so they are usually raised as entry-level tortoises, but Burmese tortoises are not particularly easy to survive. So there are a lot of things to pay attention to when feeding.

Chinese name: Burmese tortoise

Latin name: Indotestudo elongata

Alternative   names: yellow elephant turtle, pillow turtle, dry turtle

Kingdom: Animalia

Department: Chordate

Subphylum: Vertebrate subphylum

Class: Reptiles

Subphylum Class: Apoporia

Order: Turtles

Suborder: Turtles   

Family: Tortoise

Genus: Burmese tortoise genus

Species: Burmese tortoise

Distribution area: India, Nepal, through Bangladesh, Myanmar to India, Malaysia and Guangxi, China.

Habits: Burmese tortoises usually live in pomelo forests with high humidity, but have also been observed in Indian open spaces under hot, dry conditions. Burmese tortoises inhabit mountains, hills and bushes.

Breeding habits: Burmese tortoises generally start mating in May, and July-August is the peak mating season. When the male turtle is in heat, it follows the female turtle. When the female turtle stops, the male turtle climbs to the front of the female turtle, stretches its head and neck, and keeps moving up and down, and occasionally touches the head of the female turtle with its mouth to prevent the female turtle from crawling. .

Appearance characteristics: Its head and nostrils are pale yellow, and there are dentate protrusions on the maxillary margin. The carapace is high and connected to the plastron, about 26 cm long. Carapace green-yellow with irregular dark spots; plastron yellow. The limbs are stout and columnar, with well-developed scales; there are no webs between the fingers and toes.

Food: Lives in terrestrial grasses and feeds on plant seedlings.

Protection level: It has been listed in IUCN Vulnerable (VU) CITES Appendix II internationally. National key secondary protection.

The appearance of the Burmese tortoise is changeable, the most important change is the color of the carapace. The color change of the carapace of the Burmese tortoise is affected by many factors, the most important of which are the intensity of light and the change of subspecies.

1. The appearance characteristics of the Burmese tortoise

The adult carapace is about 20cm long. The head is medium, with a pair of frontal scales and a large, often divided frontal scale on the top of the head, and the other scales are small and irregular; the snout is short, and the jaw margin is finely serrated. The back is high and the armor is long, and the ridge is relatively flat; the hip shield is single and wraps downward. The plastron is large, the front edge is flat and thick, and the rear edge is deeply notched. The limbs are thick and cylindrical; the forelimbs have 5 claws; the fingers and toes are not webbed. The tail is short, with a claw-like horny protrusion at the end, and the male is well developed. When living, the head is yellowish green, the body is yellowish green, and each scutellum has irregular black patches; the limbs are brown with irregular black spots.

Second, Burmese tortoise male and female identification

A weight of about 500 grams can identify the sex. The center of the plastron of female turtles is flat, without depression, the tail is short, and the cloacal hole is closer to the rear edge of the plastron; the center of the plastron of male turtles is depressed, the older the turtles, the greater the degree of depression, and the tail is long and stout, The cloacal foramen is far from the posterior edge of the plastron. During the breeding season, the shell around the eyes and nose of both males and females tends to be pink, and the claws are gray.

loving warmth and being afraid of cold. Under artificial feeding conditions, turtles like to crawl on sandy soil, with little activity during the day and more activity at night. When the ambient temperature is 22-33 ℃, the turtle's activity and food intake are large. When the temperature is 17-20 ℃, it only eats a small amount of food and has little activity. When the temperature is 12-15 ℃, the turtle eats little or no food, and there is indigestion when eating more food. From June to September every year, activities and feeding are flourishing. After a long-term drought in August, it suddenly rained. Turtle was very excited to crawl in the rain. Some bowed their heads to drink water, and some stopped on the sand. In the yellow plum season, when it rains for several days, most turtles live in artificial caves or under awnings. In late November, when the temperature drops, the tortoises move slowly, and some have not seen crawling for several days. When the temperature is lower than 14°C, the tortoise enters a state of hibernation. At the end of March of the following year, when the temperature reaches nearly 20 degrees Celsius, the turtles from the domestic production area are stung, and they can eat normally at 19 degrees Celsius, and their digestion is normal.

The Burmese tortoise has a fixed habitat. If you move it to a few meters away from the original habitat and turn a corner, the turtle will still be there in the next morning. Under domestic conditions, Burmese tortoises are more docile than other tortoises, and they are not found to bite each other, but there is a phenomenon of grabbing food. However, in the native environment, the Burmese tortoise crawls more quickly and collides with each other.

Myanmar tortoises have strong adaptability and like to eat fruits, vegetables and other plants. Bananas, tomatoes, citrus, etc. are more tempting to them. In the wild, Burmese tortoises also eat flowers, grass, wild fruits and fungi, insects, arthropods and mollusks. Under artificial feeding, the staple foods include lettuce, cabbage leaves, Shanghai green, sweet potato leaves, dandelion, mulberry leaves and hemp leaves; tomatoes, bananas, apples, rice, fresh corn, plantain, cucumber, beans , cantaloupe, watermelon rind, etc. can be fed in small amounts, but cannot be fed as a staple food; feeding foods with too high oxalic acid content is not conducive to the metabolism of turtles. Animal foods such as lean meat and snails can be fed regularly.

Myanmar tortoise is absolutely herbivorous, if it is an omnivorous tortoise, we can easily feed it , but how to make it nutritious while only eating plants? What kind of food can provide all the nutrients that Burmese tortoises need?

1. Burmese tortoise food choices

The Burmese tortoise can be fed a variety of vegetables and fruits in captivity. Pay attention to feeding less things with high water content, and it is ok to adjust it properly. Burmese land is more sensitive to red things, such as tomatoes, etc. This method can be used to induce new turtles to start eating, and fragrant bananas can also be used, but frequent feeding is not recommended. Please pay attention to the variety of real objects. In addition, it is said that Myanmar land can be fed a small amount of small fish shrimp or meat What, never more than once a week, that's up for discussion. Appropriate sun bathing is conducive to the healthy growth of turtles.

2. Precautions for feeding Burmese tortoises

The   Burmese tortoise should be observed for a period of time before hibernation to observe its food, feces, physical fitness Bad and unhealthy turtles should not be allowed to hibernate and should be fed with heat and given certain treatment. Confirm that a healthy turtle should take a bath to let it drain the feces from the body, put it in a fixed indoor box, add dry sand, straw, cotton wool and other insulation materials to let it hibernate naturally. During the period of attention to observation, but less disturbed.