General Care Discussion :: two questions

[faithin_felix]

i'm sorry i'm not sure where to put the questions. I didn't think it would be in urgent care because it's not that urgent.

I've heard a symptom of RI is when the turtle swims slanted?
well that happened to one of my RES, but that was right after its been basking for an hour, is it because it is dry on one side? because it only happened after it bask.

Second question is...how do i know my turtles are sleeping? they close their eyes while basking at times, are they sleeping?
because when they bask, i'm usually in the room moving, so they wake up. But are they sleeping?



that's bubbles and flippers.
i haven't took a pic of pebbles yet.
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[faithin_felix]

it's too big ><

[jenaero]

I've never noticed it w/my res, but I know I've heard/read that swimming uneven for a moment after a long period of basking is normal.

[SpotsMama]

I think that sometimes when they close their eyes while they are basking they are asleep but sometimes they are just "resting their eyes".

[DavidY]

Cute turtles!!

[industrial_girl_2000]

Swimming slightly slanted once in a while is fine as long as they have the ability to "right" themselves & swim evenly too. The problem of RI is when they have a collapsed lung (lungs are on the top of a shell for a turtle). The collapsed side doesn't have air in it, but the other side does, so they float in a tipped fashion where the lung WITH air in it is floating above the water, while the collapsed lung is BELOW the water level. Air rises in water, & so does the lung filled with air.

[Hoooneylynn]

Sometimes they just rest their eyes cause they can get dried out.

And I love the little baby "superman"!

[faithin_felix]

oh. thanks! so when do they actually sleep then, cause it seems like they NEVER sleep!

[industrial_girl_2000]

They sleep when you aren't around or when you are sleeping.

If a turtle is really comfortable in your house, they may sleep/nap on their basking dock while basking.

[faithin_felix]

oh, so they sleep underwater too?

[Hoooneylynn]

Yes

[SpotsMama]

Oh yes. They mostly sleep under water. Once in a while they'll slowly rise to the surface, take a sniff of air, then sink back down.