What does nutria eat in the wild and at home, list of products

Keeping nutria at home can be a profitable business. In the matter of growing, feeding plays an important role. Let's consider what nutria eat in natural and at home conditions, and the features of the diet of these animals depending on the period of the year. What can and cannot be given to nutria, what to feed animals for meat, young animals, pregnant and lactating females.

What can you feed your pet nutria?

Nutria are practically omnivores. They can be fed green grass, branches and dry food, grain, and vegetables. You can replace all this with ready-made mixed feed or make it yourself.

Green feed

Like rabbits, nutria love to chew fresh grass and, in winter, hay. They can be fed the same types of plants that are fed to most farm animals: weeds, wheatgrass, garden tops, legume tops, cultivated forage grasses such as clover and alfalfa. The grass can be given undried and wet; nutria do not suffer from bloating from wet vegetation.

Dry and roughage

Nutria eat branches with leaves of fruit trees and grapes. You can give branches of birch, poplar, willow, and oak. You cannot feed ash, bird cherry and linden; animals will not eat the leaves of these plants. You can feed them the stems and leaves of reeds and cattails and similar marsh species.

Cereals

Nutria are given grain, whole and crushed. You can give wheat, barley, legumes, rye, corn and more. Grain is mainly given in mash with vegetables. The mash is distributed to the animals in the morning. The grain fed to rodents must be of high quality, not rotten, and not damaged by pests; this can cause poisoning in nutria.

Vegetables fruits

Nutria eat any vegetables, for example, carrots, beets, leaves and heads of cabbage, and potatoes. It is very useful to give Jerusalem artichoke, both tubers and tops.The animals will not refuse sweet fruits: apples, pears, apricots. Vegetables and fruits should not be rotten or too green.

Industrial feed

Nutria can only be fed with compound feed; there is a special type designed for them. But if it cannot be found, then you can give feed for pigs, which animals eat with pleasure. Bird feed is not suitable for nutria, as it contains sand or shell rock, which are harmful to the stomachs of rodents.

Homemade feed

You can also prepare mixtures yourself from grain, grain waste, herbal flour, dried vegetables and vitamin and mineral supplements. This compound feed can be stored for no more than 3 months, and it must be kept in a dry and cool room. It should be packed in small bags or barrels. Dry compound feed can be given to animals once a day, pouring the entire daily allowance into bunker feeders. With this feeding, nutria should be provided with fresh, clean water.

Additional feed

In addition to the main food, nutria need vitamins and minerals. Their sources are yeast, fish oil, chalk, salt, bone meal. All these products are added to the mash in small volumes every day.

If rodents are kept on a complete feed, nothing else needs to be given.

Water

Nutria not only need water for drinking; they wash vegetables in it before eating. The water must be clean, so it needs to be changed at least once a day, or even more often.

What should you not give to animals?

You should not offer animals poisonous herbs that can cause poisoning. These are celandine, sweet clover, datura, spurge, and buttercup. They should not be given either fresh or dry.Do not feed rotten or frozen vegetables, green fruits, green potatoes and their tops.

Specifics of preparing a diet

Rodents should not be fed the same diet, but should be prepared taking into account the purposes of rearing, the condition of the animals’ bodies and their age.

For fattening

Animals destined for meat are given grain and vegetable mash, grass, and hay at home. They are allowed to feed table scraps as well. For quick fattening, it is beneficial to use pork feed.

For pregnant individuals

In this species of animals, pregnancy lasts 125-135 days. From the 2nd half, the females are transferred to a special diet, more nutritious and increased in volume. Starting from day 65, each nutria should receive 300-350 g of vegetables, 250 g of grain, 60 g of legumes. When feeding, add 2 tablespoons of chalk, 5 g of fish oil and premix into the grain mixture. During pregnancy, females need to be monitored so that they do not become fat.

For nursing females

Lactating nutria are fed the same as adult animals, but the norm is doubled. They provide nutritious grains - corn, wheat, barley and maize. The best grass is also selected - forbs, clover, alfalfa, legume tops.

What to feed the young?

By 2 weeks, the chicks can already eat adult food; from this age they are fed boiled porridge from any grain with the addition of finely chopped vegetables. By 2.5 months, the young are taken away from the females and fed with regular food for adult rodents.

Seasonal features

In summer, it is better to feed nutria with dry grain, grass and vegetables, which are given separately. Wet mash should be prepared one time at a time so that the animals eat it completely and the leftovers do not turn sour. Acidic food causes fermentation in the stomachs of rodents.

In winter, they feed with fresh vegetables, meadow grass hay, sprouted grains, reeds, brooms from branches, and dry leaves. They provide feed. The transition to a seasonal diet continues gradually - over 2-3 weeks.

What does nutria eat in the wild?

Wild animals live near water and feed on river and swamp vegetation and its roots all year round. Their diet includes cattails, water lilies, reeds, and reeds. Sometimes nutria can eat shellfish, small fish, frogs and crayfish.

Nutria on private farms are fed in the same way as other domestic animals - grain, grass, hay, vegetables, tops and fruits. They can be given waste from the garden, specially grown vegetables in beds, and mowed meadow grass. Or use only compound feed on which nutria are well fattened.