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I've read several mentions of RES sleeping on this website and the forum, but haven't come across anything definitive. My question is this:

I know, at night, when the area is dark and the RES sleeps, they seem to prefer sleeping in the water. I used to have the water level low enough where he could sleep in the corner of the glass, vertical, outstretched so his nose was just above the water...this way he could sleep and breath the entire night.

Then I came on this site and was informed to fill the tank as much as it could hold. So now, my turtle has to swim up and try and float up there, get O2, and then go back down and sleep...this seems quite stressful for him. He also has figured out that he can sort of clutch onto the turtle dock (the floating one with the underwater ramp) but this ALSO seems a little uncomfortable...

So I'm wondering if there's a better way to alleviate sleeping? Is it natural for them to have to swim all the way up a bunch of times during the night?

That's normal for aquatic turtles to do that through the night. You could try adding some plastic plants or other decorations that come up close to the water surface that the baby turtle could rest on and still be submerged underwater but closer to the surface.

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, itl take time for him to adjust
When you added the water you should have added and inch everyday
So he can adjust everynight
But its fine, he get used to it
Put plants and stuff so he can hold on to it

You could put a basking just under the water level.

How large is your tank and how big is your turtle? Normally it's fine, they are still asleep while surfacing for a breadth.

If its any consollation my tutrtles seem to sleep under water completely. Its actually kind of cool at night when they go to sleep and have been sleeping for a while they tend to get tiny bubbbles around their nose. I noticed this one evening when I checked to make sure the water temperature wasn't too cold.

My RES usually sleeps under water as well. When they're inactive, they can stay underwater much longer because they don't need as much air.

If you want him to sleep with his nose out of the water, suction a fake plant to the side of the tank. He'll use it to rest on when he sleeps.

^^^^ My turtle sleeps on the wires of the filter and heater. I guess so he/she doesn't strain to swim up over and over.