General Care Discussion :: new turtle doesnt swim it floats.

[blulite]

hi guys do turtles have to grow before they can swim deeper into water?

our new turtle lydia tries to swim down to the bottom of our tank but no matter how much she tries she just cant seem to make it. she just gives up and with a shamefull look on her face floats back to the top.

she is only small 1 1/2" so is relitivly young too. can anyone help.

also she seems to not eat a great deal so i wonder if shes just not heavy enough or strong enough to compete with the powerheads

[Sammonkie]

Hi blulite! Does she just float on the surface of the water, or does she swim at some depth? If it is the later, I think it just takes time for her to go deeper; on the other hand, if she just floats, it can really be a sign of RI. Since she is tiny little, she may not eat a lot at once. How often do you feed her? On average, how much does she eat on a daily basis?

[blulite]

she does try to go deeper some times but spends most of her time floating around the surface. she does eat but not as much as fat nacker(tumble) does. hes a gready pig. she is getting enough though as tumble often helps her to retrieve it from the basking spot. and i feed them once a day.

[Sammonkie]

Don't worry about her eating. Probably soon enough you will instead be wondering if she will ever stop begging for food! lol lol

Btw, how do you tell about the gender at such young age?

[blulite]

lol yeah tumble used to be the same but now he climbs up the zoomed ramp and eats out of my hands. hence the reason i call him fat nacker