General Care Discussion :: Turtle won't bask

[lschat2]

So the subject name pretty much says it all.

Hrothgar and Noodle used to have a TERRIBLE tank because my parents wouldn't buy them anything, so I recently spent my own money making them a new habitat.

They have a pretty nice sized basking area with a ramp in the water covered in cabinet lining (rubbery/meshy with holes). The ramp is not too steep and not to flat, and is about half way in the water.

ALL my turtles do is swim in the water. I have never seen them bask and I doubt they have ever basked unless I put them up there. One time I walked in the room and saw one of them hanging off of the ramp, but I think he was having troubles. I'm not sure if he was just resting or trying to get up there.

They have had this new habitat for about 3-4 days now. What's going on?

THANK YOU!!

[jenaero]

Sounds like they need time to adjust to their new surroundings. As long as the basking area is easy to climb up on, they'll bask when they're ready. Could take a week or two.

This is assuming all temps are correct.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You can encourage them to go up there by putting stinky treats (like tuna) up there. You'll be able to tell if they got up there and ate them by the treat going missing, and you'll encourage them to explore because they'll be going, mmm, I smells some tuna somewhere, let's find it!

[Amg81083]

I agree with TCG. Smelly treats usually works well! Love the name Hrothgar!!! Beowulf is one of my favorite stories.

[Take-One]

It takes a while. It took a while for mine to.
Or maybe the temp is too high.

[SpotsMama]

What's the water temp? What's the temp on the part of the basking ramp that's out of the water? The most common reason for turtles not to bask when the setting is otherwise good is that the temps aren't right. Turtles have to be motivated to get up and bask by toasty warm temps on the basking platform.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I agree with Spotsmama.

Also, 3-4 days is not a long time. It sometimes can take a coupla weeks for a turtle to truly adjust to a new habitat.

I also agree with the "putting stinky treats on the ramp" thing too (lure the turtles to the ramp so they check it out).