redearslider.com

what are some good ways to 'play' with your turtle, out of the tank.... it is good to let them walk around on the floor sometimes? Just wondering..

I think the majority of people here will say it's not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful. Turts are fast lil buggers and can easily get lost, even when confined to one room. It can also stress them out.

If you want to 'play' with your turtle, do it in his own territory. Get him used to having your hand in the tank, feed him by hand, play 'follow the finger' on the outside of the glass.

Yea, turtles get stressed from "playing". I think that playing "follow the finger" will stress them out too, because if your hungry and someone was waving your favorite food in front of you, it would stress you out not being able to get it.

jenaero wrote:play 'follow the finger' on the outside of the glass.

lol We call that game turtle tag.

I don't believe 'turtle tag' would stress them out. My res are never hungry and they could follow my finger for hours if I had that kind of time. The reaction that they have to food is different than the reaction from this.

I don't let mine run on the floor anymore, he only is out of his tank when I clean it and even then I put him into another container that has a rock he can play on and stuff. So I try not to stress him out. Plus think of it..the floor's probably dirty from dirt and hair and stuff, you gotta clean all that off of him and also off the floor so you might as well just put him in his own container to go play. Though when it is warm out I take mine outside but I never ever let him out of my sight nor out of my reach.

The best play I have found for my turtle is while he is in his tank. Sometimes Ill put my hand in there to fix some of his plants and he likes to swim to my hand and hold on to my finger with one little hand.

Follow the finger is also something he likes to do and basically anything that I show him through the tank he likes, especially if its glittery or colorful. He will always swim to things like that.

mine like to climb onto eachother whle baskign, and then the one on bottom will just walk around while the other one just sits there, its pretty funny.

Hm..I pull mine out and she sits with me. Sometimes she run from hand to hand...I usually put her back in the tank when she gets "restless" though. She seems to like it.

i have a thermometer that is stuck to the side of the tank with a suction cup. recently they decided that it's fun to make alot of noise with it. i had to get out of bed yesterday and take the thermometer out so they would shut up and let me sleep.

my little guy likes to hold my finger

my turtles apparently hate suction cups now. they have taken to removing everything that is attatched to the side of the tank with suction cups. the thermometer, the turtle dock, the filter stuff, everything. they will work for days just trying to unstick the turtle dock. they will unstick the thermometer in minutes. luckily, i dont think they can get to the suction cups that hold the heater down. i should put in some decoy suction cups for them to play with so they'll stop messing with the important things.

ive been told not to