General Care Discussion :: RES displaying 'paralyzed' behavior?

[ytse411]

My female RES, about 10 +/- years old, lives in a 150 gal tank. In the last year or so, every once in awhile she kind of 'freezes' for a few minutes.
The first time it happened, she had just been introduced into the 150 gal tank (was previously in a 75 gal) and she stopped moving - her eyes were open, but her legs and head were perfectly still. I would try to move her, but it was almost like she was paralyzed. I had a panic attack until she just 'snapped' out it and chaulked it up to fear of her new surroundings.

She did it again last week, and fortunately this time I didn't freak out because I had seen it before. I was changing her water, and noticed she was playing 'zombie'. I kept talking to her, and her eyes would move, but her legs were extended and not moving. I even tried to clean her shell, which she absolutely hates , to no avail.
I left her alone for a few and came back - she was fine.

Thoughts?

[marisa]

Don't really know. When she was doing this, did you give the legs a gentle tug? If so, there was not response? This is only with the hind legs and not the front ones?

[ytse411]

Yup, I would gently drag her around in the water, (which I do sometimes with her - I think she likes it!).
It was both her front and back legs, almost like she was frozen. Her legs were stiff, I couldn't really bend them.
Strange!

[steve]

Thats very strange. How long does she stay in this state?

[ytse411]

Just about 1-2 minutes.

[marisa]

Just a thought, but could something neurological be going on? I'd just keep an eye out to see if it happens again and/or if she starts doing it with any frequency.

I don't my turts legs would bend if I tried to "force" them to...

[ytse411]

Yea, that's my worst fear .... all I can do is keep an eye on her. She seems ok otherwise.

I would never try to force her legs to bend! But I was kinda wiggling them to see what was going on.

[Muirner]

do you think that she might be wanting you to pull her around? Does it seem to happen when you have your hands inside the tank? Or is it just kinda a random thing?