Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Need some thoughts on this one.
My leucistic hatchling ( 2" is starting to act strange in the last 4-5 days . He's always been the first at the glass for food , pellets or live food. Always the most active guy in the tank.
Now, the last 4 days, he's out of the water all the time on the one dry place in the tank. He's there all the time, day or night, on this one rock. No movement sometimes for 24 hours.
No reation to food at all. If I put him back in the water, he still seems strong and swims fine. Not lethargic or anything. But come back in a half hour, and he's sprawled out on the rock again.
I've checked the heater...its not busted and the other 3 regular hatchlings seem fine. They eat all OK and behave normal. ( I was worried maybe the heater was leaking voltage into the tank or something) This guy has been fine for the last 3 months. Now a big behavior change. If I didn't know better , he seems like someone getting ready to croak. It bugs the crap out of me. He was expensive and a very cool little turtle. I can't find anything wrong. I was thinking he was OK because he's probobly acting normally at night. But I've gone down at night and I can still see his shadow up on that one rock.
I know no - one else is bothering him either, so I ruled out that somethings chasing out of the water.
I know this is a really vague question, but I have no idea on this one

My hatchling snapper is doing the same thing. It will crawl all the way out of the water and lay there all day long. I can hold him, and he seems dead, but then when i put him in water...he is active after a few seconds.

mine started doing it....then stopped for a week or so....now it started doing it again yesterday...but..he is starting to shed right now. So im thinking...when they are growing and they are starting to shed, they need the light and the dryness to help them shed their itchy skin...

but don't hold my advice to me...because its my first snapper hatchling, so i am unsure of the real reason.

but i think it will be fine.

I Don't currently keep snappers and never had a snapper hatchling (except once for a day) so if its snapper thing, i cannot comment. But i have seen several instances of a turtle spending lots of time on the basking spot (when it was not obviously otherwise ill) . In several of these cases i tested the water and found it was dirtier than i thought and upon cleaning the water the turtles returned to normal behavior. SO maybet here is something in the water or just higher ammonia than you think.

It's funny you should mention that solution. This actually answers a question I was going to post in the Asian Turtle Forum. My Chinese Golden Thread turtle has been basking an abnormal amount lately. He is typically highly aquatic. He started sitting on his rocks even at night when the lights are out. When I changed his water he went back to his typical routine of spending 75% of his time in the water.
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1.0 Woma
1.0 Australian Water Python
1.0 Australian Olive Python
1.0 Albino Green Burmese
1.0 Lereh Green Tree Python
1.1 Loxocemus bicolor (New World "Pythons" )
1.1 Hog Island Boas
0.0.1 Chinese Thread Turtle
1.0 Alligator Snapper
0.0.1 FL Red Belly
0.0.1 Concentric Diamondback Terrapin
0.0.2 Leopard Tortoises
0.0.4 "Flame" Crested Geckos
1.0 Yellow Ackie

Yeah mine started doing the same exact thing about a week ago. I have had him for about 4 months now and his shell is 1.5"s and he has never gotten out the water well last week he started climbing on top the only rock in the tank and just laying there for hours even at night. So i checked my heater and the water temp and everything was fine. Then i thought it might be because i hadnt changed the water out in a couple of weeks so i cleaned his cage out today put in nice new fresh water and put him back in. He looked all happy swimming around so i thought problem solved then i came home from the store and he was back ontop the rock.

He exihbts the same problems such as climing on the rock and laying there with his head steched out for hours even at night but i when i pick him and put back in the water BAM he is swimming like a pro. Also i know he is eating because right after i cleaned his tank i put one of the feeder fish in without letting it get used to the new water temp so it was kinda stunned and the turtle snuck up behind him and chomped him right down.

His shell has been kinda "fuzzy" since i got him (my manager found him on his back porch) and i read somewhere that their shells molt when they are small ? If this is true i am thinking that the basking could just be his way of trying to dry himself out so his shell hardens ??

following is a picture of my turtle and his tank setup usually in the tank there are about 10 feeder fish and some of those 99cent for the bunch live plants and like 10 grass shrimp but since i just cleaned his tank today i havent gotten it yet.

Any help would be appreciated

Close up of my turtle taken today you can see what i am talking about with his shell

So those two pictures didnt work because the forum censored part of my host name =/

here they are hosted somewhere else =)

Close up of my turtle taken today you can see what i am talking about with his shell

The forum needs an edit button

looks like algae on his shell
very normal
no worries
doesn't hurt turtle
but if you don't like it you can GENTLY scape it off with a toothbrush don't use for people and no toothpaste) in a vinegar/salt soultion.