Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my RES for about 4 months or so. When I got her she hadn't been taken care of at all. They had her for 6 months or so and she was still the size of a quarter. She had no light and was in one of those critter keeper boxes with maybe an inch of water. anyway since I've had her she has quadrupled in size, has a beautiful strong shell and has done great. Lately she's started digging in her rocks a lot. I feed her well so I don't think she's just hungry and digging for food. She digs all day and completely excavates her tank. I just wondered why she did this. I wasn't sure if she would be trying to lay eggs, I thought they did this on dry land but I'm not sure. I don't know how old she is. I've had her for 4 months the people before me had her for 6 and they got her from someone else also and I have no clue how long they had her. Just wanted an opinion on this.

One of my male RES has been doing that lately as well. Like when I wake up the rocks will be to one side and you can see the glass from the tank. Oh well I don't really mind since hes digging up some bad stuff from the bottom of the tank and it will go to the filter heh

I don't know why they do it but maybe because winter is coming and they act stranger

I don't know about you but both of male RES completely stop eating during the winter. I keep the settings the same but I suppose they notice the temperature and sun light (goes down quicker) from the window their near.

a lot of turtles dig beacuse they are looking for food
sometimes there is a fish or worm or other small creature down in the rocks other times they just smell soem poo or rotting food there (might even be too small to see)
other times they do it i think because they are "bored"
turtles in the wild spend a good portion of the day foraging and this is a natural way to do this in the tank.
I'd wouldn't worry unless he can dig out under something that might fall on him.

you can get him some sinking wafers/sinking pellets or ghost shrimp so he can have something to "find" when he digs.

Most likely she is just rooting around looking for things to chomp on. Instinctive behavior. Are you sure she has quadrupled in size in 4 months. That is way too fast a growth rate. How often and how much do you feed her and what is the temperature of you water? Obviously -- she was NOT taken very good care of by her former owner. I am just concerned that you are over compensating and she may be growing now at too fast a rate. She is lucky to have a new caring home though. Good luck with her.

I feed her mostly pellet food. I feed her maybe ten pellets twice a day. Every now and then I will feed her boiled chicken or some mustard or turnip greens. I keep her water around 80.

Cut the feeding to 10 pellets once a day rather than twice. That is more than enough for a small turtle. Once she gets a bit larger she should be fed every other day. Try chicory and escarole as greens too. I am prettys sure the mustartd greens and turnip greens are high in oxalates which block the absorption of calcium. Also 80 is ok for water temp but you can drop it down 5 degrees or so. The combination of warm water and heavy feeding is causing you turtle to grow just a little bit too fast. Generally a good growth rate is an inch a year (however -- I have seen many grow a bit faster than this and still suffer no ill effects). Your little turtle is growing way way too fast though. You don't want health problems down the line.

Steve

Thanks for the advice. I thought she was just catching up. She never grew with the other people so I didn't know. Anyways thanks!

Not to worry. In a way I suppose she did catch up and I am sure that at this point no harm was done. You just have to slow her down a bit now. I have turtle that was raised this way and her whole life and her shell is all lumpy and deformed and the fat is just pouring out of her shell right by her legs.

That is what can happen with long term overfeeding and improper diet. (she has slimmed down considerable since I have had her but the shell will always be lumpy and deformed).

Steve