Zoo database

Nutria

Myocastor coypus

Natural diet Nutria

The nutria is a herbivorous animal that mainly feeds upon stems, leaves, roots, bark and other aquatic vegetation. Their diet is often supplemented with floating objects such as logs.

Grasses
Grasses
Herbs
Herbs
Leaves
Leaves

Feeding advice Nutria

Feed quantity per day

10-15%

Sample percentage calculation

If an animal weighs 7 kg and eats 10% of its body weight, it will get
 
7 x 0,1 = 0,7 kg feed in total per day

Feed composition

10% Concentrates
20% Leafy greens and cabbages
20% Other vegetables
50% Grass, alfalfa, roughage

Proportions (fresh product)

0,1 x 0,7 kg = 70 g concentrates
0,2 x 0,7 kg = 140 g leafy greens and cabbages
0,2 x 0,7 kg = 140 g other vegetables
0,5 x 0,7 kg = 350 g grass, alfalfa, roughage

Diet Suggestions

Recommended

Variety of hay (timothy, grass, oat, prairie and meadow)
Variety of root and watery vegetables
Variety of leafy and cabbage vegetables

Not recommended

Fruits

Common diseases

An unbalanced diet may result in one of these more commonly occurring diseases/conditions:

  • Obesity
  • Dental disease

Additional advice

  • Divide the “Feed quantity per day” over at least two feeding moments per day.
  • Make the diet wet before feeding it, since dipping their food in water is a behavioral trait seen in the wild.
  • Stimulate foraging behaviour by hiding, stacking or hanging their feed. Besides this, scatter feeding is also a good option (read more about feed enrichment and foraging behaviour).