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Over the past week or two my turtle has been waking up about an hour before I turn his light off at night around ten. And when I wake up in the morning he is still up but goes to sleep soon after I turn his light on and open my window. I've had my turtle for almost a year and this is the first time he has been sleeping like this. Does anyone know why he could be doing this, or what I could do to make him get back on track?


THanks matt

My RES sometimes decides it's time to bask when the lights are about to go off for the night.

If he's healthy and there are no other symptoms, perhaps it's because of the change in seasons/warmer weather.

What are the temps? Are you sure he's not sleeping during the night at all? My turtles are up long before their lights go on. When you say he goes to sleep in the am, is it on the basking area? Does he try to burrow in the substrate (if you have it in the tank)? Do you actually open the window or just the shade? If you open the window, is he next to the window? (I'm wondering if he could be getting any cool breezes.)

The temperature in the tank stays around 79-80. Im pretty sure hes not sleeping every time I wake up to go do something he is awake and alert at the top. No he just sleeps at the bottom of the tank. I dont have substrate in his tank. Yeah I just open the shade so some lights gets in but no rays ever get in his tank. And actually in my room it has been getting really warm like 85 degrees, so I have had to try to cool off his tank. But right now his tank is at 80 degrees and he's sleeping at the bottom, and I have been trying to wake him up but he just wakes up goes to the top for a couple minutes and goes back to sleep.


THanks matt

Unfortunately there really isn't a way to regulate their sleep patterns since you can't be there 24 hrs a day. My turtle often naps in the middle of the day on her basking platform, and sleeps a bit at night (sometimes I hear her stirring at night). Some of this lack of "8 hour sleep" may be so they can subconsciously keep an eye on their surroundings and make sure they are not in danger (as they would be doing in the wild as well).

You could try adding some entertainment for him like an air bubbler that is set on a timer to come on several times a day for like 15 minutes at a time. Try varying the frequency so it comes on like once for 15 min then off for an hour, on for 15 min, off for 15min, on again for 15 min, off for 3 hrs, etc. It might break up the monotony of his day between feedings and interactions with you (those are the daily highlights of most captive turtles!).

DavidY wrote:You could try adding some entertainment for him like an air bubbler that is set on a timer to come on several times a day for like 15 minutes at a time. Try varying the frequency so it comes on like once for 15 min then off for an hour, on for 15 min, off for 15min, on again for 15 min, off for 3 hrs, etc. It might break up the monotony of his day between feedings and interactions with you (those are the daily highlights of most captive turtles!).

wow that's an interesting idea...

Serra has her pet fish so she's never bored..lol

I am pretty sure that I have never seen my turtles asleep, since they've been healthy I think they wake up as soon as they feel movement. I think they are very light sleepers.

I think Kiwigerman tried that idea and his turtle seemed to really enjoy it.

My lights go off at 7pm. One time Beaker was still up there just before the basking light went out, so I left it on before going out for the evening. I got back after midnight and went to check and see if I could turn the light off and all three were up there, sound asleep! I just left it on all night....