General Care Discussion :: Twitching and flinching

[knite]

I noticed for a while that my turtle twitches a lot while it's basking. I don't understand why he or she is making these random spasms when there is clearly nothing provoking it. Anyone can shed some light?

[jenaero]

Mine do that too. Could be an itch, could be he's just getting comfy. Either way, nothing to worry about

[butterfly]

Mines does this also. He does it with his head and sometimes with a back leg. I always thought that he twitched because a drop from the filter water fall fell on him.

[knite]

Thanks for the replies. And I thought the temperature was too high/low...

[ellman605]

mine does that also, nothing i've been concerned about because they only do it very shortly, then they stop, mine loves to do like a dog, and spin around to find the right part of the rock.

[marisa]

My RES and painteds twitch after they've been basking for a while. It usually means they've gotten warm enough, with the result being that they will fairly soon go back into the water to thermoregulate (cool off).

[da sAUCE!]

its called thermo-regulation. the same way they fan their paws to gain surface area to collect more light/heat, they twich and "flap" their paws to release heat. they usually do this right before they dive back into the water, at least that's what Honu used to do.

[da sAUCE!]

oh wow i didnt even read your post marisa. kudos.

[marisa]

Well, I've never heard of turtles intentionally flapping paws to trap and release heat. I think it's more an involuntary response to the fact that they're becoming too warm and are in need of hydration/cooling off.