General Care Discussion :: Is my turtle scared of me?

[Holly Golightly]

Hi guys, I've had my red ear slider for a little over a year (I had two but one of them died within the first 4 months - it was really sad ). Anyway, she's gotten better about my boyfriend and I being around him, but she still gets FREAKED out when she's basking and we walk into the room. Sometimes when we watch TV and she's basking, we don't move because she jumps off and gets scared. I can't even take a decent picture of the little guy which makes me so sad. Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable around me?

[steve]

It's not you, just the movement around the room. You can cover the sides of the tank... but I've also noticed that some turtles are way more skittish than others.

[SpotsMama]

It can take some turtles years to completely settle down. My Spot is now five years old and it's only in the past couple of years that he's gotten fearless. Now I can pick him up off his basking dock but for the first few years he'd fly off it if he even thought someone was looking at him - kind of like yours. It will just take time - RES can live to be about 40 so your guy is still just a baby.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I agree it can sometimes take years for turtles to settle down. You have to realize that when a turtle is out of the water, they feel a bit "vulnerable" because they are outside the water. It's just the way they are.

I would hand feed your turtle as often as possible. One trick that helps is to take their daily food ration & divide it into, say (for example), 5 amounts. Every time you go by the tank put 1 of the amounts into the tank (feed by hand...even go so far as to have the turtle take the food from your hand) so they start to associate you with food. This works wonders, but again it will take time.

After a while, when they see movement, they will associate that "movement" with a person coming to feed them. Plus, it gives you a chance to interact with your turtle often.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You can also try to cover up the basking area, with some plastic plants or something over the glass so that your turtle feels safer when basking.

[camee1991]

I agree with all of the above! Especially putting some backing on the tank and the sides...the stick on pretty backing ya know? It helps them feel safe! He should calm down.

[Bascomb]

Holly-Go --Turtles have a survival instinct that they have had for millions of years. They are most vulnerable when they are out of the water. If you can learn to feed them by hand that will help. They will associate you with food. It may take a day or two the train them. You may have to withdraw the food for a day or two until they figure it out. When they get hungry the will be more curious about your fingers in the tank.

[amsude]

Speedy is skittish when my husband came in the room and we had a 20 L tank but now he is just skittish all the time in his new tank. I do hope it stops i do miss hand feeding him. I think in time it will get better. Even this am he let me pick him up right away rather then trying to swim away. Of course i am taking him to the vet tonight who knows what will happen