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.
Hoe vaak moet er gevoerd worden?
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.
Voer voor carnivoren
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 , zemelen, kruiden, fruit, groente en mineralen verzorgd en daarmee “gevuld” hetgeen hun voedingswaarde aanzienlijk vergroot. Let op: aan de buitenkant is de voedingswaarde van een voederdier NIET te zien! Want kruiden, mineralen en balaststoffen die een krekel kort voordat hij gevoerd wordt opneemt eet een carnivoor, die niet eens kijkt naar vegetarische voedingsmiddelen, gelijk indirect met het “gevulde” dier mee. Wie de voederdieren niet wil aanraken en bij het “happen” van het terrariumdier de vingers uit de gevarenzone wil houden kan de voederdieren eenvoudig en veilig met een lange pincet aanrijken ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P STRAIGHT of JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P SLIM LINE ) to offer the live feed.
's Zomers bestaat dan nog de mogelijkheid het menu van insecteneters voordelig uit te breiden door zelf gevangen weideplankton toe te voegen. De vangst op intensief gebruikte landbouwgrond, zeker na gebruik van herbiciden e.d., moet uiteraard worden vermeden. Ook moeten beschermde insectensoorten weer worden vrijgelaten. Het vooraf toestemming vragen aan de landeigenaar kan enige ergernis voorkomen.
Voer voor vegetariërs
Bewoners die zich geheel of overwegend vegetarisch voeden, bijv. groene leguanen, chuckwalla's of Europese landschildpadden, zijn ook in een terrarium met weidekruiden (o.a. paardenbloemen, klaver, weegbree), verschillende soorten salade en kiemen, gesneden groente of ook gedroogde kruidenmengsels, stro en alfalfa te verzorgen. Met JBL Iguvert voor leguanen en JBL Agivert evenals JBL Herbil voor landschildpadden biedt JBL drie hoogwaardige kant-en-klare voedingssoorten voor vegetarische terrariumdieren aan. Deze voeding bevat bewust uitsluitend plantaardige ingrediënten met een hoog vezelgehalte en weinig proteïne. Aan doornstaartagamen kunnen daarnaast ook diverse zaden, bijv. uit het vogelvoersassortiment, worden gegeven. In het algemeen hebben planteneters proteïne-arme en vezel- en balaststofrijke voeding nodig om gezond te blijven.
