In order to keep terrarium pets healthy, it is vital that they are fed in accordance with the needs of their particular species. This is the only way to avoid deficiencies e.g. rickets or illnesses caused by malnutrition (fatty liver, renal gout). It is important to know the natural eating habits of the animals in order to provide a balanced diet. In a terrarium, many omnivores or opportunists especially like to eat types of food which they would rarely find in the wild, or only at certain times of the year.
For example, some herbivores will also eat live food. If terrarium pets are given fully atypical food, for example, toast bread soaked in milk, cooked pasta, minced meat or cat food, a surprising number are certain to greedily devour this. However, not everything that the terrarium animals like to eat is good for their health. The reason why large common iguana do not eat cat food in the rainforest is not that the tins are hard to open, but simply because there is none there. Simply giving the animals their favourite food (he just loves to eat it) for convenience or out of excessive care is the wrong way to feed.
¿Con qué frecuencia hay que dar de comer a los animales?
There is no simple general answer to this question. The amount of food to give per meal and the intervals between feeds can vary widely according to the species. Of course, young animals usually need to be fed daily in the first few weeks, whereas adults only have to be fed 2-3 times a week. Depending on their age, snakes only need food at very long intervals, whereas the small colourful tree-climbing frogs (Dendrobatidae) develop serious problems after only a few days without food. The amount of food given should also be suitable for the pet. Many animals eat ahead so-to-speak so they will be ready for the annual dry season in their natural habitat when food becomes scarce. Of course, they are not aware that there will be no food shortage in the terrarium and, as a result, do not stop eating ahead when their owner constantly feeds them too generously. This is why desert animals are at a far greater risk of developing fatty degeneration than rainforest animals. Overfed animals become sluggish, their sex organs may become fatty, leading to sterility, or they may even die from organ failure, e.g. when their liver stops functioning because too much fat has been stored.
Alimento para «comedores de animales»
Most terrarium animals are “animal eaters”, so-called because they eat whole, live animals. As they are “programmed” to particular stimuli, such as the movement of the live food or, in the case of snakes, the warmth of the small mammal or bird serving as the victim, they can rarely be trained to accept substitute food, with few exceptions. Snakes can often be successfully brought to accept dead prey if it is warmed to 37-40 °C (microwave) before being offered as food.
Nowadays, specialist pet shops offer a wide range of live food animals e.g. small mammals, grasshoppers, cockroaches, crickets, house crickets, flies, fruit flies, springtails, worms, mosquito larvae, wax worms or crustaceans. Compared with the vast range available in the wild, this is still a very moderate selection. To avoid deficiency symptoms, the type of food animals purchased should be changed frequently instead of buying just one kind. Last, but not least, the food animals that are purchased should be improved by feeding with high-grade food prior to being fed to your terrarium pets. This can be done by feeding them up with high-grade food mixtures such as JBL TerraCrick , salvado, hierbas aromáticas, fruta, verdura y minerales, lo cual mejorará notablemente su valor nutritivo. Atención: NO es posible conocer el valor nutritivo de los animales para alimento simplemente por su aspecto. Las hierbas, minerales y fibras que una cigarra ingiere poco antes de servir ella misma de comida, los estará ingiriendo indirectamente un «carnívoro» junto con el insecto «relleno», a pesar de que siempre ignoraría el alimento vegetal. Si no quiere tocar el alimento vivo ni tener los dedos en la zona de riesgo cuando los animales de terrario muerdan su presa, puede suministrar el alimento vivo de forma fácil y segura con una pinza larga ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P STRAIGHT o JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P SLIM LINE ) to offer the live feed.
En verano existe además la posibilidad de ampliar y mejorar el menú de los insectívoros suministrando plancton cogido del campo. Como es lógico, no sería conveniente capturar plancton en campos de cultivo intensivo donde, posiblemente, incluso se hayan esparcido herbicidas o similares. Si se capturan insectos protegidos, también habrá que volver a ponerlos en libertad. Pedir permiso al dueño del terreno puede ahorrarnos también algún que otro disgusto.
Alimento para vegetarianos
Los animales que se alimentan total o parcialmente de forma vegetariana, p. ej., las iguanas verdes, los chacahualas o las tortugas mediterráneas también pueden alimentarse en el terrario proporcionando hierbas silvestres (p. ej., diente de león, trébol, llantén menor), verduras y brotes variados, hortalizas a trocitos o también mezclas de hierbas secas o pellets de paja o alfalfa. Con JBL Iguvert para iguanas y JBL Agivert así como JBL Herbil para tortugas terrestres, JBL ofrece tres tipos de alimento listo de primera calidad para animales de terrario vegetarianos. Estas variedades de alimento contienen precisamente solo ingredientes vegetales con un alto contenido en fibra y poca proteína. Los lagartos de cola espinosa pueden comer también diversos tipos de semillas, p. ej., de las que se venden para aves. Para mantenerse sanos, los herbívoros estrictos necesitan generalmente alimentos con bajo contenido en proteínas y ricos en fibra.
