JBL Gammarus Dried Shrimp Turtle Treat

JBL Gammarus Dried Shrimp Turtle Treat is a treat of whole dried gammarus, the freshwater shrimp, for aquatic turtles.

Key Features

• Whole dried crustacean: Cleaned gammarus dried gently rather than baked, so it keeps its shape and its smell. Turtles take it readily, and a whole shrimp gives them something to work at rather than swallow.
• The one that gets a shy turtle feeding: A newly arrived or sulking turtle will often take gammarus when it will not look at sticks, which makes it genuinely useful rather than just a luxury.
• Good for hand taming and enrichment: Offered by hand or by tongs it is how most keepers get a turtle used to them, and scattering a few pieces gives the animal something to hunt for.
• A treat, not a staple: It is high in protein and in chitin and very low in moisture, so it belongs alongside a main food rather than in place of one. A turtle fed mainly on dried shrimp grows too fast on too narrow a diet.

How To Feed It

• Soak the pieces in tank water for a minute or two before offering them. Dried food taken dry swells afterwards, and soaking also stops it blowing around the surface.
• A few pieces at a time, two or three times a week at most, on top of the normal diet rather than instead of a meal.
• Offer it by hand or tongs if you want the taming benefit, or scatter it if you would rather not have the turtle associating fingers with food. Adult turtles bite hard, so tongs are the safer habit.
• Net out whatever is not eaten. Dried shrimp fouls water quickly once it goes soft.

About The Calcium In It

• Gammarus does contain calcium in its shell, and you will often see it sold on that basis.
• It is not a calcium supplement though. Dried invertebrates carry a lot of phosphorus alongside the calcium, and that balance is what decides how much of it the animal can actually use.
• Shell growth depends on UVB light, warmth and a dedicated calcium source. Feeding more gammarus is not a substitute for any of those three.
• If a shell is soft or deforming, deal with the lighting and see a reptile vet. No treat will correct it.

Which JBL Reptile Food For Which Animal

• Agil is for aquatic turtles and terrapins, the sliders, cooters and map turtles that live in water and haul out to bask. Floating sticks built on animal protein.
• Agivert is for herbivorous land tortoises, such as Hermann's, spur-thighed and Horsfield's. Purely plant based, high in fibre and deliberately low in protein.
• Gammarus is a treat for aquatic turtles rather than a diet, fed a few pieces at a time.
• The two main foods are not interchangeable. A high protein stick fed to a land tortoise causes exactly the shell and kidney damage a tortoise diet is designed to avoid, and a plant based food will not meet the needs of a young aquatic turtle.

Storing It

• JBL give three years unopened and around three months once the tub has been opened, because the vitamins degrade after that.
• Buy the size you will get through within three months of opening rather than the size that looks cheapest per litre.
• Keep it sealed, cool, dry and out of sunlight. Never in a damp room.
• Scoop with a dry spoon rather than a wet hand. Moisture getting into the tub is what starts mould.

Good To Know

• Sold in 250 ml and 1 litre tubs. For aquatic turtles of about 10 to 50 cm.
• Because it is a treat, the small tub is usually the sensible buy. A litre of treats fed at the right rate will outlast its three months after opening.
• Land tortoises should not have it. They are herbivores, and dried shrimp is exactly the kind of protein their diet is meant to avoid.
• Keep it away from children and pets, and wash your hands after handling reptile food and after handling the animal.