Vizsgálatok a görög teknősök (Testudo hermanni) önkéntes szárazanyag-felvételére, a passzázs idejére és a táplálóanyagok emészthetőségének meghatározására

Abstract

SUMMARY Information on the voluntary dry matter (DM) intake, gut passage time and digestibility of nutrients may help the adequate feeding of tortoises and may also help to prevent fast growth rate due to overfeeding of the animals. The aim of the study was to determine the voluntary DM intake and gut transit time in Hermann’s tortoises (Testudo hermanni) and also to investigate whether it is possible to determine digestibility with the method of total collection. The twelve male tortoises were placed individually in plastic terrariums. Three different foods (slicing cucumber, lettuce, dandelion) were tested for voluntary DM intake. The DM intake in percentage of the body weight was much higher in case of lettuce than in slicing cucumber or dandelion. Gut transit time was much lower in case of slicing cucumber than in the two other foods. Most of the animals (in all three diets) partially or totally consumed the faeces, so the digestibility could not be determined. According to the results of the study ad libitum feeding of lettuce is not advised. The method of total collection cannot be reliably applied in tortoises.