Is my turtle sane?

Asked by EnzoX24 (1991

) July 10th, 2008

Two or three weeks ago I received a Red Ear Slider Turtle from my girlfriend’s friend’s ex. One of my friends has a turtle of the same kind is pretty mellow. It completely ignores people looking at it and just floats around. Not mine. Whenever he sees someone enter the room he madly splashes at the edge of the tank trying to swim to them. Everyone I know thinks hes psycho.

And I’ve also noticed lately he’s been spending a lot more time on his rock. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but he is a water turtle and he’s sent the better part of three days on his rock basking in the heat lamp. Shouldn’t he be spending more time in the water?

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4 Answers

I once had an Iguana commit suicide by clinging to the heat rock…. Pretty twisted

chill_out (116

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@chill_out

Is he on there to die?!

EnzoX24 (1991

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Your turtle is not crazy. Also, red eared sliders are semi-aquatic. You need to become more informed about the species. This board has some really good advice on housing, lighting, feeding, etc. all from experienced owners. It’s too much info to summarize here. Please check the link and read through it. Here is some:

“LIGHTING
Red Eared Sliders need a warm dry basking area to assist in the digestion of their food. The warmth over the basking area should be provided by an incandescent spot light or a Reptile specific Mercury Vapor bulb. (see explanation below)
Just as important is their need for exposure to the UVB radiation that the sun provides though no one knows exactly how much is required.”

marinelife (62485

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Nah your turtle isnt crazy. My sister has one and it does the same thing. Franticly runs around the aquarium and such. My brother also has one that just sits there. The difference is my sisters is still young whilst my brothers is rather large. So i always attributed to an age/size thing. The older and bigger it is, less likely it will be moving around.

El_Cadejo (34610

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