General Care Discussion :: *sigh* new and frustrating basking habit!

[kikicool]

So my turts once had issues with basking but for several months now have basked regularly and happily.

In the past week or so... I've noticed they don't bask that much during the day. It's at night when I come in to turn the lights off that they are basking. So I leave them on a bit longer than I should... maybe an hour tops.

Their tank is in my home office, but they have gotten quite used to my presence during hte day. Also their basking area is surrounded and "blocked" by fake plants. I added some more today to see if it was a privacy issue... nuthin' doin'.

Any ideas what I can do about this? Should I just turn their lights on later? I'm assuming it's a natural body clock thing but who knows?

[Tenodera]

Same with me!!

My little turtle always basks 9pm ~ 12am in the night. NEVER in the morning or afternoon.

[DavidY]

Does your house get warmer later in the day than in the morning? Maybe the air temperature is too cool earlier in the day.

[RunninWideOpen]

I have covered my basking box now that my wife is home most of the day. We've noticed that Crush won't bask if she knows either of us are downstairs, or even home. She used to bask when we were around if we weren't too loud and obnoxious, but not anymore. And that was before we even covered it to give them more privacy. She'll only bask when we're gone now. I don't know why it changed.

[grey goose]

My guys aren't basking as much either. I think maybe once it warms up and I can open the windows they may perk up a little.

[Hoooneylynn]

Maybe try to get them on a schedule.. turn the lights on the same time everyday, and for the same length of time. Turtles are smart, and they should adjust if you give them time... Like my boyfriend feeds karlyn the same time every morning... She knows. When he gets up in the morning, he peaks around the corner and she is sitting there watching in the direction towards the door, waiting for him to come around. It took about a few weeks, but she came to know what time she would be fed.

[Tenodera]

I always leave my basking lights on from noon till night. Serra ignores this.

[octpusgirl8]

Turtley hasn't been basking as much for the past couple weeks, i catch him up there now and then, but normally he's up there every morning when his lighs come on. I thought maybe it was because he was too busy with his "girlfriend" (the rock) so i put it on the basking dock, but after some frantic searching he just found a similar rock to shower ith his affections. I'm thinking it's the season maybe.
Tenodera- Wow Serra's a night owl! What a funny little turtle!

[kikicool]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Sounds like they just changed their habits, no reason needed, huh? I feel reassured knowing it's not uncommon. God, I am SUCH a worry wart!!

Jessica, they are on a schedule, and it's always worked until recently. I was wondering if moving it up an hour each day would help?

David Y, their room is ACTUALLY warmer in the AM. Because I keep the heat on, um, 74 in my house (I know, I know, ya'd think I'm 90, I also wear old wool cardigans with holes, and slippers.). And I keep their door closed overnight, so in the AM, it's nice and warm.

Octpusgirl8, please oh please try to get video of poor little Turtley and his "girlfriend." I have a stuffed dog that I've had for years. My deaf cat used to hump it all the time. She passed away. We had a dog, Mitzi, that used to hump it--although she'd never known the deaf cat. Now my parents' dog, Cinder humps it. I always feel a little bad about the constant effort being met with indifferent rejecetion... but kinda funny to watch.

oooh... maybe it also makes their WATER warm enough they aren't enticed to bask??? Possible. But they USED to, and nothing's changed. That's what's weird.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Same thing with my turtles, I swear that they dont sleep! Seriously, I usually turn on the lights around 10 AM and turn them off at 10 PM, leave my room..go watch TV or come on here and browse through posts. Anyway, It's like 4 AM! And i slowly creep up and check on them and you would think that they would be sleeping, but no their swimming around, exploring at 4 AM! Though, I have seen them sleep a couple of times, but most of the times they dont. They also dont bask in the day, for some odd reason they start basking around 7 PM when everyone is home. Ugh, turtles

[DavidY]

Aww, they just want to be up with you! Maybe set their light schedule to 5pm to 5am. That way you can enjoy them while you're home and awake.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sometimes they just want to dry off & don't need the basking light for that.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

You dont think it would do any harm? I mean, arent we supposed to mimic the natural sun up/sun down? I read, a book..I dont know the name of the book but it was in my library. It was about turtle keeping - and it said that when keepers fail to mimic the natural settings, It affects the turtles immune system.

[kikicool]

That makes me nervous too. I'm considering just each day moving it up an hour, so that instead of 7AM -7PM, which it is now, it's more like 10 AM-10PM. They are near a window, so they do get some natural light in, if they want to wake up and explore.

Any thoughts on this idea?

[DavidY]

Well, I was kind of joking about making that drastic a change in the light cycle. If you were to do it it would have to be done gradually over a period of weeks. Maybe change it by one hour a week. Otherwise, it would be like jetlag. Although moving the clock ahead is usually easier for humans at least.

If the turtles were in a darkened room with no outside light it would work just fine. They don't know if they are in Florida or if they are in Sydney Australia. That part doesn't really matter.

Kiki, a 10am - 10pm schedule would be fine. If they are near a window you just may not want to open the curtains too early so they can get enough sleep. But the gradual increase in light that a window can provide is a nice way to wake up, and it's more natural too. That's the only problem with the lights off part of the cycle. I usually have the lights in my herp room offset by 1/2 hour for each block of enclosures so that they don't all go off or on at once. The tank on the end of the cycle is the coral propagation tank. There is only one fish and a snowflake eel in there and they don't seem to get spooked by it. The corals couldn't care less (as far as I know ).