General Care Discussion :: One of my turtles is being weird.

[nocash27]

Tang, who is maybe two months old, I'm assuming, has been weird lately. I initially bought two baby RESes a month ago and she was the more active of the two in the beginning. But for the past two weeks or so, all the does is hide. She'll swim at me when I'm about to feed them, but after that she'll cram herself between my tank and filter, or hide under this bridge decoration thing, etc. And a lot of the time she's hiding, she gets herself sideways somehow. Like, belly on the side of the tank. Or when she goes under the bridge decoration I have at the bottom of the tank, she'll "stand up" on her hind legs inside it.

Think she's sick? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Starchick]

It's really hard to say from this description whether something's wrong or not. Any change in behavior can be cause for concern, but I would look for other symptoms. Does she tilt to one side or the other when swimming? Does she have difficultly submerging herself? Does she breathe heavily, gasp or breathe through her mouth when she's out of water? Is she continuing to bask? Do her eyes look normal? Is there any discharge from the nose or mouth? Is she still eating normally? I would read through the list of questions on the urgent care forum, and if you feel that the answer to any of those would give us additional useful information, add it and we'll try to help you out.

[nocash27]

How big is your turtle? 1.5 inches
How long have you had it? two months

What is the water temperature? 78
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? yes
How much water is in there? 29 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? yes

What is the basking temperature? 95ish
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? plexiglass, critter carpet
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? pellets, reptomin, blood worms, krill treat things
When was the last time your turtle ate? today

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 29 gallons
Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? no

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? no

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? none other than what i described in the first post





Other than all the random hiding and sticking herself sideways between things, everything else is fine. She basks and eats daily. No weird discolorations anywhere.

[steve]

Their behavior and eating habits can change. I'd just be worried that she might get trapped, so this might be a good time to make sure there are no danger spots.

[nocash27]

Look at that craziness.

[Rosepruner]

hahaha, my turtle likes to stick his head through stuff too just like that. It's really quite funny. The behavior you described seems pretty typical of RES's.

[marisa]

I hope the material isn't abrasive---your RES could get a nasty scrape from it.