General Care Discussion :: basking at 'night'

[robind]

I came home today to find my turtle on her atba, despite the fact that the lights were not on. I don't know how long she'd been up there for, but her skin/shell looked very dry. Is the likely cause of this poor water quality? Is there any thing else it might be?

[seanwb]

I don't think this is a problem.

Mine seems to stay up there for hours after the light goes off, often asleep. I think it takes her a while to realise that she is cooling down. She is always back in the water before the lights come back on in the morning.

I do understand it can be disconcerting if they do this, especially if they sleep with their head and neck out. On the first occasion she did this I thought she was dead. I guess it means she feels really safe.

[SpotsMama]

My turtle has been staying up on the basking platform after lights out a lot too. And he's always back in the water by morning. I think it means they are comfortable - the air temp is nice and cozy - and like seanwb said, they feel safe. It's actually good for a shell to dry out thoroughly - dry conditions inhibit fungus and bacteria. Not to worry unless the turtle is acting lethargic.

[BullDog]

My Frankie does that on occasion too. Sometimes though, she decides to go for a "walk" at 3 in the morning (scratching around the basking area). I usually yell at her to be quiet and she stops

[Dein211]

My Frankie does that on occasion too. Sometimes though, she decides to go for a "walk" at 3 in the morning (scratching around the basking area). I usually yell at her to be quiet and she stops

omg Rolo does this too. her new thing is sratching at the same spot on her tank when she's bored. i think she liked the sound but when i added stuff in her tank like more rocks and the dangally she doesn't do it as much. she acctually pushed the ping pong ball around for a while yesterday! o.o