General Care Discussion :: Crazy tank swimming?

[Seroster]

Hey folks, been a while since I made a post. Herman's in a much better set up, though I haven't managed to snag him a UVB light yet. He looks like he's about to shed and has grown a lot more than he was growing in the past.

My conundrum is that for some reason, if he's not asleep on his rock he basically spends all day swimming up against the glass. I don't know if it's normal or not, but he goes up and down, side to side, back and forth with his face against the glass pretty much any time he's in the water.

Sometimes I think he's begging for food and I'm pretty strict on what we feed him, so I'll put a bit of lettuce in to abate him. But at least half the time he doesn't seem to care. He looks at me and watches me drop it in, sometimes swimming frantically against the side like I'd imagine is normal begging behavior, but doesn't immediately scarf the lettuce, or even care about it. (He does eat lettuce eventually, I give him a little every day after his pellets, and most if not all of it is gone by the next.)

It's almost like he's begging to be held or something, since he usually does it worse when people come by. He doesn't seem to mind getting touched, but he doesn't seem to like being held at all, he squirms like crazy and I have to hold him still or he'd jump right out of my hands. He actually climed up my shirt and onto my shoulder once... I've thought about letting him free-roam the house some but we have several dogs and cats that could chomp his little 2 in self pretty easy, and it's too cold to let him outside this time of year. (And I'm afraid I'd lose him, he's still a pretty small little bugger.)

So anyone have advice on this stuff? I don't think he's seeing his reflection because I've got one end covered with a towel and it's very reflective, and that's not the end he runs up against. I dunno it just seems like he likes attention but not affection, if you get what I mean.

[gwennie]

Does he seem to do it more when you're in the room within his view?

Or have you watched him do it from a distance when he can't see you?

It's possible he's come to associate you with yummy things like pellets ^^

[Seroster]

Well I spend most of my time on my computer and he's in the same room, but not close. But when/if I decide to give him snackage he doesn't seem to care a lot of the time. Can't really see him from outside my room as I put a towel over the side he was swimming up against the most originally, which is the only direction you'd see him without him seeing you. Then he switched to the front view panel instead. It's not outside the realm of possibility that he's just food begging, but when I give him food he doesn't attack it like you'd think, he usually keeps wall-swimming until I walk off.

Also, what's "normal" for their front arm "flab"? He's got a little flap of skin or fat or something behind his front legs, but it's not bad. I don't know if he's over-weight or if that's normal? I still feed him pellets daily since he's not a year old yet, and a bit of lettuce that he usually snacks on as the day goes on, would that be over-feeding him?

[gwennie]

Yeah it's normal for them to have a little web of skin behind their front legs, but if it's looking really fatty he might be a tad heavy? ..It's when their back legs get fat pouches and they can't pull their heads/limbs in completely when they retract into their shells that you need to worry.

Sometimes my turtle doesn't realize I've dropped pellets into her tank when she's facing me and her nose is out of the water - guess the lighting could be masking the dropping of the pellets a bit so she's still swimming frantically at me sometimes after they hit the water lol.

How old is your turtle? Are you sure he's a boy? Sometimes females show erratic behavior when they need to lay eggs - didn't think to ask you that because you referred to your turtle as male.

[Seroster]

Well he/she/it is only 2.5 inches, not yet a year old, so we can't tell if it's a male/female yet and I'm pretty sure that's too small to be egging as of yet.

As to his flabbiness his front does look kinda fatty but his back parts are pretty lean, I've seen him pull all his limbs in at different times while basking so I'd imagine it isn't too bad. Mind you I haven't seen him go all in in a while, he's never scared of anything, even when we scrub his shell with a toothbrush during water changes (weekly cause we have no filter). Mostly I was concerned because when he pulls his head in his skin flaps cover up his eyes, which I didn't think was normal...

[gwennie]

Yeah, definitely too small!

If your turtle is only 2.5 inches, I really doubt he/she is overweight at all yet ^^

Their neck skin will always cover up their eyes when they pull their head far enough in - it's sort of why turtle-neck sweaters are called turtle-necks

[Seroster]

Well that's good to know.

Now if I could just get him to calm down while I'm holding him. He scrambles like a madman when you pick him up, afraid if he gets bigger claws he may dice my hands trying to run... Yet you can poke him while he's basking and he doesn't care a lick. Crazy turtle.

[Tasha2455]

Hey there,
did you manage to find out why he was swimming frantically at the glass?
Or have you just assumed begging?

We have been having this problem with our RES Tut lately for about a week and a bit now and it sounds identical. Like he really wants to be held and picked up and cuddled, but then if I pick him up he hates it! We got him off Kijiji from a family who were not caring for him right and have had him a while, but he just started freaking out.

So if you found a solution I would love some help as well.

[ryanzlilboy]

My turtle also do that. At the time I walk around the tank. At the time I watching him. At the time I feed him (well, duh~)
But his not doing it wildly when I'm not doing the action above

[Turtletime]

I have a RES at work. A coworker got him on the streets of LA when he was the size of a half dollar. Turtle was never treated well until the coworker left for another job and I took over his care. At 2+ years and 3" Turtle got an upgrade from 10 to 30 gallon tank with a nice Fluval filter. He swam and swam and swam and swam. And swam some more. He loves watching people. He swims up against the side all the time. He will follow your finger along the side. A month ago, Turtle got another upgrade: a 180 gallon tank! He seems to spend more time swimming and less time basking. He swims like a fool at the glass whenever people come by. As he is in the hallway, there is a lot of food traffic. I don't think he's begging for food, because if you drop food into the tank, he doesn't care. He just swims like crazy at the glass.

[Tasha2455]

So I guess it is just a people thing