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I have had a red eared slider now for about 3 years. Recently he or she(not sure which one) has started digging. Is this normal behavior for a turtle? The tank is cleaned every week and it is a 20 gallon. Do you think I should get a larger tank? ANy info would help.

How big are the turtles??? The rule of thumb is 10 gal of water for every 1" of shell. If the turtle is 3" long then a 30 gal tank will suffice. But any bigger then you need a bigger tank.

I'm sorry, I meant my post to say that I had only one turtle and was not sure if it was male or female. The turtle I would say is a little bit bigger than 3". So I am assuming it needs a bigger tank? Is that why it would be digging? Thank you.

Does he/she do it at any given time? Like does she do it when you walk into the room in attempt to hide? Does she have places she is able to hide? I'm not sure, but i'm betting that one of the briliant people here will be able to say

I have noticed that the turtle does it more at nighttime and when I come into the room it stops and comes to the glass of the tank and acts like it is hungry after I have already fed it. It seems sometimes that the turtle wants to hide too--do you know why? Thanks.

All three of my turts love to dig and poke around in the rocks....make sure they are bigger than his/her head so they can't swallow them.
3" sounds a bit small for a three year old. Measure the shell from head to tail in a straight line.

I just measured my turtle and it is 7". Isn't that big for a turtle? Do you think he needs a bigger tank? I thought he was digging because he was bored or something.

Start looking to set up a proper habitat for your RES. Your tank is way too small. 7 inches is not big for a RES. Your turtle is not done growing. A male will grow to be 7-9 inches and a female will grow to be 10-12 inches. At this point I would look at getting at least a 100 gallon tank with all the appropriate accessories.

Wow! I didn't realize how big they get!! I looked at your gallery and you have a nice set up. I have a 30 gallon tall tank, can I use that for now until I find a bigger tank? Do these turtles spend most of their time in the water and only bask for a short period of time? I appreciate everyone's help on this-I guess I should have looked into this more before I purchased the turtle! Thanks again.

They are primarly aquatic turtles, they need a lot of water. Figure sense yours is 7" big you should have at the minimum 18" or more. For my baby's i hold 30 gallons of water for 2 turtles that are only 1.5" long... They are in a 55 gal tank

Check out cragslist.com they have great deals on tanks.

They are aquatic turtles so yes they spend most of their time in the water. In the wild they only get out of the water mainly for two reasons....to bask and if female to lay eggs.

your turtle def needs a bigger tank. if he/she is 7 inches, he should be in at least 70 gallons..
as far as the digging goes, its perfectly normal. turtles love to dig. just make sure there is no gravel/rocks in there that he might be able to eat.

Are you measuring the turtle correctly.. You don't measure the curve, you just measure the length minus the curve. A 7" turtle needs a minimum of a 70 gallon tank as others have stated. Also.. 7" at 3 yrs is a big on the larger size. What have you been feeding it? Do you have a picture, if you do we could help tell what sex it is. Oh and as for the digging.. lots of turtles do it..

yeah I'm thinking he included the curve. also, my turts do it all the time, they catnap during the day by burrouing in the rocks around the plants and sleeping.

There is a sand beth that is natural undyed and easy for them to pass if they were to ingest it... It looks good on a tank and goes for about 5 and change a bag. If you do currently have gravel and are looking for a replacement this might be an idea. I currently am looking into it myself...