General Care Discussion :: Turtle not basking

[Rachel__23]

My turtle got sick a while back, got him better. Ever since I haven't seen him bask at all. He loves swimming, he swims all over the tank all the time, but I never see him climb up on his dock. I lowered the water temp and nothing!

He is about 1.5" right now. The water temp is around 77-78degrees, and basking temp about 10 degrees above that. He has uva and uvb, a dock he can climb up on.... can't figure it out.

I mean, I'm out of the house all day, so it is possible he's basking then, but I'm a little worried. My old turtle used to spend a huge amount of his time basking, this one, not so interested!

[octpusgirl8]

He's probably just basking when you're not around. They do that. my turtle goes through periods where he basks a lot throughout the day, and then he has times where i don't see him bask for days at a time. I know he basks sometimes because i can see water on his ramp that he dragged up there. If you're super worried and feeling ambitious, you could set up a camera to record him while you're away!

[DavidY]

Hey, the camera is a good idea. Yea, I wouldn't worry too much as long as he seems healthy and is eating and swimming. In the wild you don't see the turtles bask all the time. Actually, it's almost like after they've had their fill after waking up from their hibernation, you won't see them too often anymore. Only once in a while. Of course, I don't sit by their pond all the time either...

[Rachel__23]

Alright, just thought I'd make sure there was nothing that was being done wrong. He's doing great, swimming like crazy, eating, chasing fish.... so he seems fine. He is terrified of anyone in the room (babies are so cute, but so skiddish).... so he must be doing it when I'm not there!

[ice]

yea i thought mine wasnt basking for a long time. but he does. i can catch him if im real quiet when i come in the room. its so funny lookin. sometimes he'll do it if im in the room but im quiet. they just get nervous.

[eazyegee]

Maybe your turtle is scared to go up? I lured my turtle up to the dock by tapping on the dock with the water thermomiter and it lured him up there, he thought it was food I guess. Or if he eats pellets from your hand take one in your finger tips and let him follow you all the way up. He'll go back in the water to eat it but maybe he'll like the heat up there and go up to it.

[grey goose]

Here's my method: Take a small piece of cuttlebone and place it right in the center of the light. If it's moved to the outer part of the light at the end of the day, you know he's a "secret basker".

[DavidY]

Clever!

[Rachel__23]

Yep turtle was basking, I left some food up there, later that day, it'd be gone... Now I catch him/her up there all the time, and he/she loves it by the window where the tank is now at my new house. So all is good. Thanks for the idea about the cuddle bone, I changed it to food, but it was obvious he/she was up there

[untsmurf]

It's actually not good to keep your tank by the window. The sunlight and drafts can really screw up your tank.