General Care Discussion :: Odd Behavior

[Paco & Pookie]

My boyfriend says our turtle Paco has been trying to dig a lot lately. We have large river rocks at the bottem on the tank, and I guess he's been pushing them around... a lot.

We've had them about a year, their still babies. He's about 3"

Paco live in a 40 gallon with temp averaging between 70 - 71 degrees. We feed him every other day with pellets and leave lettuce for him to snack on between.

What do you think he is digging for?

[grey goose]

My turts love to dig around in the rocks...no problem there. Just make sure they are larger than his head or he may try to swallow them. However, the water temps are WAY too cold! Bump the temp up to about 76F. The basking area should be around 90F.

[larqw]

My turtle does the same thing. She loves playing with the rocks and even likes shifting big, heavy ones. I think it's normal behavior. There way of playing maybe.

[SpotsMama]

Paco is looking for something to eat. Turtles root around like that in the wild. Doesn't mean you're underfeeding him - turtles just naturally are always looking for something to eat.

Or he may be re-decorating. Turtles like to have their tanks arranged a certain way which not be the same as how you would do it.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sometimes turtles get bored & just dig like crazy. Who knows what they are looking for but if I had to guess, I'd say food. They are never full (they don't know when to quite eating) & would eat 10x a day if you let them! LOL.

No worries, digging around the tank is just normal turtle behavior.

[erinemcgreevy]

Murphy does that too. I'm convinced that he likes looking at his reflection in the bottom of the glass. He clears away a space about the size on an egg.