Urgent Care :: curling up

[CRUSHH]

My map turtle is swimming REALLY fast and hitting his head off the glass and is putting his head, arms, legs, and tail inside his shell and is motionless?????Whats wrong with him??

[TNTurtles]

I dont know if this is true b/c 99% of what store sales people tell you is not true but this might be something that applys to you....I went to petsmart about 2 months ago and the salesman told me to put a towel or cardboard around the bottom of the tank all the way up to the water line. He said turtles can hit their heads really hard on the side of the tank and get a concussion and that they could die from this. I believed him b/c he said that he had a turtle at home. I did this for about 2 weeks and my turtles dont seem to run into the side as much as before but that could just be b/c they learned their tank better.

[jenaero]

I think that's more true for land turtles. I know tortoises and other terrestrial turtles will bang their heads on the glass because if they can see out, they'll want out and don't realize there's a barrier.

Can you describe your setup? Any other symptoms?

[Pam]

What sex is your turtle and how old? If female it could be a sign of needing to lay eggs. Any other symptoms such as quitting eating or ?

[CRUSHH]

My turtles are hatchling only about 1.2inches....theres no other symptoms they eat fine..my setup is a 30G tank with 20G of water...110 aquaclear filter...water temp steady at 79 degrees and basking temp 89-93 degrees

[marisa]

I do think that not being able to see out the sides of the tank can be calming for any turtle. The one turtle I have in a glass tank spends a lot more time trying to get out (perhaps because he also sees his reflection in the glass) than those that are in stock tanks.

Does your turtle do this at any particular time? What you're describing, especially the fast swimming against the glass, sounds like what mine will do when they've been startled and are trying to get away from what they perceive as a threat. They'll also sink to the bottom like rocks and remain motionless as well.

Does your turtle eat well? Does he bask?

[CRUSHH]

my turtle eats perfectly fine and i see him basking normally....just as b4 i noticed this problem