General Care Discussion :: Still not basking

[turtle_nz]

hello again,
so I did everything that you guys have suggested, dropped water temp down to around 24-26dC .. installed a blub over the basking area so temp is around 10dC warmer.. (got a 8% UVB bulb now as well) .. and he still isn't coming out of the water from what i can tell... if i lie on my bed and make no noise and watch him, he comes close to the rock, and sticks his head out of the water, but thats all he seems to do.. am I doing something wrong?

also I got some new foods, turtle sticks and JBL Calcil .. but he just seems to refuse to eat them, but i haven't stopped offering them..

have i got a dud turtle? or should i just keep going with what im doing?

[flutterby]

If he comes up when you're that far away, he might be basking without you seeing him.

[turtle_nz]

i hope so
i just get disapointed coz when i go to the pet store, the turtles are all swimming around and basking and they dnt hide when i go up to the tank.. but he's still my lil baby

btw guys, i think his shell is looking much better, so that may mean he is basking while im not watching

[missibsu]

If you have access to a video camera, you could tape them while you are gone. I know that some others have had to do that in order to be sure that their turts are basking.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Don't worry.....my RES didn't want to bask for the longest time either. Then one day, she randomly started doing it. She sits there for 8 hours straight and doesn't care if I walk past the tank or not.

I think the issue you are running into is that the turtle is new and still getting used to the surroundings. It takes them a while to get used to things when you first bring them home. Continue to offer the lamp & different foods. Eventually he will go for it. If you are worried about the lack of eating, you can try giving him some canned tuna or a little bit of canned cat food once in a while (don't make it a habit though since these are high in protein). Feed by hand so he starts to associate you with good things, like food. That helps a lot, but it takes patience and time.

[ress]

One of my turtles, started to bask. The other one is still shy. However both are very shy and they run for cover whenevr I enter the room. When it comes to food, they are not shy at all.

Will they start to get accustomed with us around?

[missibsu]

I've had my turts for over a year and they won't bask with me in the room. Some turts never will. I notice that mine aren't as shy as they used to be, but they still run for cover when basking.

[turtle_nz]

yeah funny someone should reply to this now.. georges tank is in my bedroom, and i was sleepin in this morning (saturday heh yay).. and since i got a timer the lights etc come on automatically... when i woke up, i slowly moved to look into the tank, and he was on his rock, basking away... hehe as soon as he seen me move tho, he was gone heh!

[JNZBCBnLIL]

I have that same problem- if I sleep in I have to wake up and try to lay in bed for a little while longer because Leo is always basking whenever I wake up and the second i move or make any noise he's ZOOM back into that water! It's cute when i walk in on him basking because I don't even get the chance to see him basking all I hear is a lil plop and he's swimming towards the side of his tank like crazy!

[turtle_nz]

its like their doing something naughty! hehehe!