General Care Discussion :: Acting up at night = new behavior

[punklich]

I've had my turtle for over 4 years and he's recently developed a new habbit. Sometimes my turtle will beg for food or attention by swiming and pounding the water like slashing it and making lots of noise. He would do this and be pacified with food or attention.

Lately though, he's started doing this behavior at night. As soon as the light goes out he starts acting up. He's never done this before. Naturally I tried to shut him up by giving him a snack but even that doesnt work anymore. 4 years of having him and he's never been active at night before until now. I'll have to move him out of my bedroom soon if he keeps this up because its starting to effect my sleep. Is this sudden nocturnal behavior normal?

[RunninWideOpen]

hmmm....I've never heard of that before. Are you sure it's a he? No chance it's a she needing to lay eggs? They get frantic sometimes when they need to lay eggs.

[steve]

That sounds pretty strange. Are you sure he's not just responding to your presence?

[marisa]

My male RES has gone through phases (I'll call them) when he's done this at night. He'll start splashing, and usually it's after his lights go out and he's not ready to call it a day. By feeding your turtle when he does this, you're rewarding him for the very behavior you want to stop.

Does any kind of light enter the room at all? I cover my RES's tank so that it's completely dark.

[Noobie101]

both my baby RES do this all the time now i hear little splashes and stuff all the time its normal for mine XD

[Bumby's Mom]

If it is effecting your sleep then you should invest in ear plugs. Very inexpensive and they work very well (taken from a person who lives with people that get up at 4 am and also has a cockatiel and a turtle in her room).

[cooleststan]

just got o sleep at 1 AM everynight like me and ths wont be a problem

[punklich]

Ive stopped feeing him at night to kill the reward thing. I now think its because my computer busted a couple weeks ago and as a result Im in my room alot less. Maybe he just never sees me anymore. Ive bought some ear plugs until I get a new computer.

[untsmurf]

My turtle went through a phase where he would thrash around, it looked like he was trying to swim up the wall. He would only do really early in the morning on days when I didn't get up. And he would do it until I got out of bed, the second he saw me, he would stop. It got to the point where if I just rose my arm to where he could see it, he would stop. It got really irritating. Now, he doesn't live in my bedroom anymore, so he can thrash all he wants.