General Care Discussion :: Turtle and laser light?

[VanishingReality]

Well yesterday I was playing with the kitties with their laser pointer and it reflected into Crush's tank and he started chasing it. I had never heard of a turtle chasing a laser. Anyone heard of a turtle chasing a laser and will it harm him? He really seemed to enjoy it.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Err, I'd be careful about lasers in water. With all of the reflecting and refracting of light in there, you would have a greater chance of accidentally shining it in his eye and causing permanent blindness. You could maybe try a lower level lightbulb, like an LED, and just shift it back and forth in front of the tank to see if you get a similar response.

[mat012]

My son has taken a laser to our tank - and he got in trouble for it too - for all the reasons gremlin discussed. But the turtle did follow the light and chase it like our cat does. It was funny, even though I had to be the "Mom" and tell him never to do it again.

[VanishingReality]

Well I haven't done it since and it was a pure accident.

I think we will just stick to rocks in his tank for his enjoyment.

[Doc_Moore_J]

I used to do that for my fish all the time. It takes more than a quick blast of the laser to blind something. You'd have to actually stare at it for several minutes and even that prolly wouldnt cause permanant blindness, just temporary (like looking at the sun for a few seconds). Especially if it is reflected light bouncing off the glass a few times. Unless you have some sort of high powered special laser or something I'd say your turtle will be just fine and if he seems to like it to continue doing it. I'm no turtle expert, but know the laser wont blind him if it hits his eye for a couple seconds.