General Care Discussion :: sleeping question

[michael247]

Hello, I just upgraded my turtle's set upand now the water is about 15 inches deep, and i have a dock. one my my turtle keep swimming up to get air and doesn't really "sleep". and the other one is sleeping at the bottom on the tank and every few min or so he'll swim up to the surface to get air.

is this normal?

how does your turtle sleep?

thanks

[SpotsMama]

Try putting a plastic plant in your turtle tank - one with leaves that reach the surface of the water. Your little turtles will be able to rest on the leaves or hide in them. Most turtles like having a few plastic plants in the tank.

Turtles sleep a lot of different ways. Right now, I'm looking at Spot and he's resting the front part of his plastron on the ramp to his basking dock so his nose just reaches the surface of the water and he can breath without moving. I think he's asleep. Sometimes he sleeps suspending in the water with one foot touching the bottom of the tank. From time to time he'll slowly rise up, take a snif of air, then sink back down. Sometimes he falls asleep on his basking platform and, when the light bulb goes off, he stays there and snoozes for awhile, I suppose until it gets too cool for him and then he dives off. Frequently, he's awake when most of the world is asleep and cruzing taking snifs of air.

Sounds to me like what your guys are doing is in the normal range.

[marisa]

My turtles sleep underwater, resting on the leaves of plants or in the case of one, on his basking dock sometimes. It sounds like your turtles are adjusting to having a deeper water level.

[emma]

My turtles sleep in the plastic plants that are part way under and above the water.