Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm very sorry for this dumb question, but do turtles sleep?
I went up to my bedroom the other day to come upon a dead little turtle.... Ok I THOUGH! But when I came up he opened his eyes and started swimming like his little maniac self.

So, do turtles sleep,lol?
Thanks
Steven

I think you may have answered your own question. LOL!! Yes of course they do. Generally aquatics will sleep in the water as not on their basking area.

Lol, thank-you honuman! When reading over that last post of mine, it didn't even make sence lol,(Really got to start editing)

Well today I caught my cutey again sleeping on his filter, WITH his nose under the water! Stumped on this one? Do they just hold there breath for awhile when they go to sleep,lol?!? Or is it a natural reaction for them while, sleeping to put up there heads from the water and seep in some air...lol???

Sorry for my ignorance.... got to learn some how,lol
Steven

Not a dumb question at all. They can stay submerged for quite a while and even to get a bit of oxygen from the water through capillaries in their vent (butt ) and inside their nasal passages.

When sliders hibernate that actually stay under water for the entire winter. Their metabolism can slow down so much that they only need the oxygen that they get through the capillaries I mentioned.

when turtles sleep out of the water it's either normal or their way of sunglasses....but if a baby turtle does that a lot then he could be real sick and you need to get him help quick.

During the day time hours you are correct. A turtle rests on land to catch the sun's rays (basking). It is NOT normal behavior however for most aquatics to sleep at night out of the water. This makes them a prime target for night predators (like raccoons). If your turtle sleeps at night on the dry land area several things could be wrong. 1. it could have some sort of illness (like respiratory infection). 2. It could be that your water temperature is too cool. This could lead to illness and therefore needs to be corrected. 3. Sometimes they do not read the turtle rule book and behave the wrong way!! LOL!! In a captive environment indoors this may not present problems but in an outdoor pond eventually such an animal would be taken out by a predator. You can't count on this last point being the reason why you animal chooses to sleep on land at night when your basking lights are off so you really should check into the other possibilities if your animals behaves this way.

Steve