Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a tank full of spotted turtles and one has decided that he wants to bury himself in the woodchips...and he stays there. The rest of the gang spend most of their time in the water. Is this odd behavior or just a personality trait?

Is the one that burries himself captive born? If not he may be trying to aestivate a bit, especially if he was wild caught at some point. Now in the wild I have observed that some spotted aestivate more than others. I have found that females are harder to find in the heat of the summer. However, males are out basking still and seen much more frequently. Another possiblility is maybe the cage is too crowded and he/she is simply trying to get away from the rest. Is it a hatchling or adult?

He is CB. I dug him out and fed him yesterday. I assume he will come out when he is hungry.

I have three males in a Waterland Tub. Do you think that is too many?

Two males in a tub are too many. Males should be kept separately from other males, unless they are given free range of a monstrous outdoor pond. Males are typically very aggressive towards each other.

Keeping males together in small quarters usually leads to agression problems and fighting. Not always, but you have to assume it will. My male spotted turtles do sometimes fight and they are in a decent sized outdoor pond with many females. Either watch them VERY closely, or separate them as soon as you can. My largest male who is just under 6" (YES I do have a HUGE male, might be some kind of record...)and he attacked my second largest male. He bit him on the left side of the top of the head and put a pretty serious gash in him. The turtle then suddenly lost use of it's back legs. I assume it was some sort of brain damage from the bite that caused this. I treated the bite for about 2 weeks and now he is gaining use of his back legs again and is eating voraciously. This is just one of many examples of male agression. Males can also drown one another when attempting to mate each other or displaying signs of dominance. Just be careful.

As for the spotted that is digging.....this is common. Many females do this late in the summer season not always to escape the heat but to search for worms. Yes spotteds are frequently observed foraging on land. They are never far from water and what mine do is drag their prey back to the pond. I have one female that spends half the day in the left corner of the enclosure burried under plants and spends the rest of the day swimming around the lillies. Keep a close watch on your turtle because many sick spotteds will seek dry areas and stay there to die. Spotted turtles with pneumonia and/or respiratory infections commonly do this. If your turtle's eyes are clear, open and are not puffy, pussy or swollen then you should be fine. Check the nose area as well for discharge and make sure he/she is not gasping for air. These are all signs of a potential serious problem. Keep feeding the animal, spotteds can be very stubborn and end up starving themselves.

Not to mention your turtle may be retreating to land due to agression from the others....it may be it's only escape.

Hope this helps.
-Chris