General Care Discussion :: Swimming

[mom crush]

Is it possible for a turtle to not know how to swim? I got our RES a few months ago and realized very quickly that he had never been in a tank with more water than much over his shell. He is shedding like crazy and he doesn't seem to be able to swim or float in the water. Any suggestions???? Just trying to make sure Crush is happy and safe!

[Take-One]

I know Bulldog had troubles with her female swimming. You can PM her.

[steve]

[topic moved]

What is the water temp? How big is the turtle and how much water is in there? It's usually advisable to have an easily accessible dock and a resting spot or two. People usually choose to incrementally increase water levels, to allow for some adjustment period. A RES that can't swim properly may be suffering from an injury or illness.

[BullDog]

Frank is right - When I first got Frankie, I don't think she had ever been in deep water before. So when I put her in her new home - a 90 gal, she had trouble staying at the top. She would paddle like mad just to get a breath of air.
Also, she couldn't float - she would sink like a rock to the bottom.

I gave her a large plant to "climb up" on, plus two underwater resting areas. After a couple months, I did notice improvement in her swimming. Nearly 6 months later, she's still not as buoyancy neutral as Ralph, who's had deeper water all his life, but she's definitely a lot better. She doesn't struggle to get a breath, and I've even seen her cruise the middle zone of the tank, instead of sinking to the bottom.

Try providing an underwater resting area.

As Steve said, swimming difficulties may be part of an underlying problem, so if you notice any other unusual behaviour, you should contact a vet.

[mom crush]

What type of under water resting areas do you provide? A year later and i still can not get him to swim. I will try the increasing the water level like you suggested, he has a dock and two large rocks but he just sinks to the bottom. He has a heater and eats,active and loves running around the house!! Thanks for the info!!

[theartbook35]

I knew my turtles had been in deep water before I got them. I had them in shallow since they were so young, tiny and extremely clumsy. I gave them climbing stuff, like big river rocks that they were forced to walk over, and that helped their balance a lot. They'd kind of flip out on me, and get aggressive when they were little about water levels deeper than two inches. (Made the tank look ridiculously unused, too)

So, eventually, I got a really nice ramp, and day by day raised the water level inch by inch. I discovered they only like two depths, super shallow, and super deep. Any other depth and they start attacking each other or their environment, or nip at me like crazy.

The older they get, the better at swimming they get. It's kind of natural for them to hang out in shallow water, since all the big scary stuff lives in the deep end. The more you socialize them, and the more things for them to do in their tank, the better their confidence gets, and the more accepting they are of tank changes. By now, my turtles don't care what I do with the tank, as long as they can bask, swim and hide.

I don't know how social your turtle is, but with Typhoon, who really HATED deeper water at first, I had to hold her front feet for a while and sort of bob her at the water's surface, to make her start kicking her legs. Scaredy-pants drama queen turns out to be one of the most graceful swimmers I've ever seen.

(Hurricane, brave and bold, has no sense of direction, and whacks into things constantly. She loves to swim but she's horrible at it.)

[BullDog]

I use a triangle of egg crate in the corner for a resting area:

(This is an old pic, and I've since ditched the clips in favour of a couple extra suction cups)

I know several people have used a plastic soap dish, turned upside down just under the surface for a resting area too. I've seen corner shower units that would end up looking kind of like my home made egg crate platform. But of course, when I went looking for them, I couldn't find them

You can also use a big floating plant. It depends on how big your turtle is though. Ralph can float along with his big plant (you can hardly see him sometimes!), but Frankie kind of just sinks hers.


And for an update on Frankie: I saw her moving almost as gracefully as Ralph the other day (about a year and a half since I got her!). So it does take time. She still doesn't swim about a whole lot, she usually just forages along the bottom of the tank.

[theartbook35]

I use a triangle of egg crate in the corner for a resting area:

(This is an old pic, and I've since ditched the clips in favour of a couple extra suction cups)

I know several people have used a plastic soap dish, turned upside down just under the surface for a resting area too. I've seen corner shower units that would end up looking kind of like my home made egg crate platform. But of course, when I went looking for them, I couldn't find them

You can also use a big floating plant. It depends on how big your turtle is though. Ralph can float along with his big plant (you can hardly see him sometimes!), but Frankie kind of just sinks hers.


And for an update on Frankie: I saw her moving almost as gracefully as Ralph the other day (about a year and a half since I got her!). So it does take time. She still doesn't swim about a whole lot, she usually just forages along the bottom of the tank.

I have a vine similar to that, that Typhoon loves to hide behind and climb on. I have a big rock for an underwater resting spot too.