Optimal Background Color for Head-Starting Northern River Terrapins (Batagur baska Gray, 1831)

Abstract

Background color has significant effects on the lifestyles of various animal species. In this study, the effects of wall background color on growth, feed utilization, specific activity of gastric and pancreatic enzymes in fecal samples, fecal thermal properties, carapace elemental profile, and hematological parameters were investigated in northern river terrapin (Batagur baska Gray, 1831) in order to optimize the head-starting conditions. The terrapins (70.13 ± 0.04 g initial weight) were completely randomized into five types of colored tanks (transparent, green, red, blue, and black) and reared for twelve weeks. At the end of the experiment, tank color had no effect on survival and growth performance, but had significant effects on feeding rate, feed conversion ratio, and protein efficiency ratio (p < 0.05). Terrapins reared with black, red, or blue backgrounds had the highest feed utilization among the treatments. Among these three groups, analysis of specific activity of gastric and pancreatic enzymes in fecal samples and fecal thermal properties suggested improved digestive functionality in terrapins reared with a blue background relative to the other treatments. Carapace elemental composition and hematological parameters indicated no negative effects on health status of the terrapins reared with this optimal treatment. Findings from the current study support the head-starting program of northern river terrapins before release to natural habitats, and could also be applied in aquaria or zoos for public display.

Optimal Feeding Frequency for Captive Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

“…The values of FCR from 0.80 to 1.02 are relatively low, which is a good trait. Similar range of FCR has been reported in green turtle [ 39 ] and in northern river terrapin [ 40 ], having respective ranges from 0.61 to 0.81, and from 1.03 to 1.46. Here the estimation of consumed pellet feed was based on dry matter, while the weight gain of turtles includes a large fraction of water in the tissues because it is on wet weight basis.…”

“…Significant changes in digestive enzyme activities relate with fecal thermal properties, since the thermogram from DSC reflects the native amount of nutrients present in feces after digestion and absorption [ 9 , 18 , 21 , 49 ]. Generally, the low temperature peaks (peaks 1 and 2) detect available nutrients, mainly protein, nitrogen-free extract, and lipid, while the high temperature peaks (peaks 3 and 4) refer to unavailable composition, probably crude fiber [ 40 ]. The T o , T p , T c , T c –T o , and ΔH were different between groups in the current study, indicating the effects of feeding regimen on feed utilization efficiency.…”

“…No differences in BCI indicate normal morphometric changes of reared turtles over the range of feeding frequencies tested. Generally, elemental composition in carapace reflects the varying feeding regimens or the physical conditions where the animals lived [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 40 ], whereas hematological parameters are influenced by seasonal changes, age, sex, geographical location, physiological responses, and reproductive status [ 50 ]. No differences in carapace elemental composition and hematological parameters between the turtles fed 2M8–16 and the other remaining treatments suggest no negative effects on health status by the treatments.…”

Growth patterns of captive painted terrapins Batagur borneoensis in the Aceh Province, Indonesia

“…Various human activities continue to exploit natural resources uncontrollably, which is the habitat of various biota that live in it, including the Batagur habitat. For now, this animal is only found in several countries, including Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, in these three countries B. affinis is found, this animal is also in very poor condition, so a conservation process has been carried out (Moll et al 2015;Çilingir et al 2019;Jualaong et al 2020;Camara and Jamil 2021). Likewise, with B. borneoensis, this animal is now only found in Indonesia and also neighboring Malaysia.…”

Dietary protein requirement for captive juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

“…For monitoring feed utilization in endangered species, specific activities of digestive enzymes extracted from feces have been assessed (Jualaong et al, 2020(Jualaong et al, , 2021Kanghae et al, 2021). The liberation of cleaved products after enzymatic reaction, relative to its standard, indicates physiological response of reared animals to dietary treatments.…”