Do res turtles sleep under water holding their breathe?

Question

Do res turtles sleep under water holding their breathe?

Answer 1

no silly  they sleep under water and are able to breathe. They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes,  foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.

The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great.

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for 8 to 10 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.

Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always.

Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they p**p allot.

Total Body length: 5-8" average, up to 12 inches max. Life span: 15-25+ years

Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about  3” across.

You need a good filter system! Gravel larger than they can swallow.

You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tanks and watch them disappear in a few days!

This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium. it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!

They can have garden worms, meal worms, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and  anything that moves only as a treat.

They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.

You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose.

**Swollen cloudy eyes means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet /  rescue in your city and state.

I wish you luck.

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Answer 2

Depending on the age of the turtle, they can stay submerged for a WHILE.  They can't "sleep" without breathing.  But they will sleep underwater.  They will rise to breathe, as needed.

Usually when they are sleeping underwater, they have their head drawn in and just wrinkles and the nose tip showing from the shell.  Their front legs are tightly tucked.

So, yes, it's normal for them to stay submerged for long periods.  They don't often bask to sleep.  This makes them vulnerable to predators, and instinct tells them to stay safely underwater, to sleep.

Amazing creatures, aren't they?