Other Turtle Discussion :: Anyone else's turtles get restless?

[TheBean]

So yesterday, the wife and I were home most of the day and we kept hearing Bean climb up and down his ramp and try to climb up the side of the tank almost all day. Every time I looked in, he was swimming fast around the tank. So we decided to let him out to roam around the house. It'd been a while since he'd been out. I got him out, dried him off, put him down and OMG! He took off like a TURBO TURTLE! For like 2 hours!!! He was going full turtle speed all over the place!

It was cute too because at first, he seemed angry when I first got him out, but after 10 minutes or so, he followed the wife and I all over the house like a puppy!

Anyone else's turtles just NEED to get out and play every once in a while?

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Nope only when my females have eggs do they get that hyper but you have a male so no clue lol

[TheComputerGremlin]

I haven't honestly tried! We have always had carpet in the apartments, so now that we have a real floor, I might have to try it.

[TheBean]

At one point, I was sitting on the floor messing with a computer and Bean kept circling me. He'd run around me, then go up to one of my hands and lightly tough his nose to my finger, then take off around me again. It was cute.

We started watching a movie and Bean was climbing all over our feet so we put him up on the couch and he started climbing all over our laps! Apparently, he was very happy to be let out.

[vear]

Yes, I have a male and he goes nuts sometimes. It's exactly what you describe - he tries to climb up the sides of the tank by standing on the ramp - he reaches really high (but can't get out b/c I have a piece of plexiglass there for those purposes!). He falls in the water and then tries again, and again and again. He runs around the house like a maniac. lol. Crazy turtle.

[TheBean]

Glad Bean's not the only one.

LMAO

[EmperorTunaFish]

Same here, with the same solution. Must be cabin fever.

[Moose]

At one point, I was sitting on the floor messing with a computer and Bean kept circling me. He'd run around me, then go up to one of my hands and lightly tough his nose to my finger, then take off around me again. It was cute.

We started watching a movie and Bean was climbing all over our feet so we put him up on the couch and he started climbing all over our laps! Apparently, he was very happy to be let out.

lol thats cute! sounds like hes trying to play tag with you

[wiccabrat]

I have a Russian tort who's been doing this for 3 days now, he's wearing me out. lol

[xxysis]

My turtle Myrt woke me up at 1am pounding on the sides, uprooting her inside filter till she tipped it sideways. She's usually pretty content.

So, since I was worried I came over to Turtle Talk to see what others had to say. I was glad to read she's ok.

I'm going back to bed and Myrtle can roam till morning. I've let her out before and every time she is allowed to roam she seems to always find some dark corner and stops, head almost all the way in her shell and just sits there.

Does this seem ok??

[gwennie]

How big is Myrt? She could be wanting to lay..

[Seroster]

Heh, I was asking about this kinda in my own thread. But Herman's always like this, he goes a hundred miles an hour up and down, left and right against his tank wall.

He does like to try to climb out over the side from his turtle dock, stands up on his back legs with his front feet on the cusp of the acquarium rim and streeeeeeetches his neck. But he's way too short and I have chicken wire over the top so even if he could get his feet over the top, he wouldn't get anywhere.

I wish I could let him roam, but we've got too many, too big dogs and several cats, I doubt he'd survive being outside his tank for long. I may start taking him outside to our front yard once it's warmer and he's larger, but I'm afraid at his current size I'd lose track of him and/or step on him, and then there'd be no more Herman.

[cervoned1]

Has anyone else tried hamster balls for letting their turtles run around the house? I started with the smallest ones for my first two when they were hatchlings and now they have gone to the medium size. I just recently got two more hatchlings, so they are now using the small ones. I have a house full of cats and that is why I bought the hamster balls. Also, they are less likely to get stuck under a piece of furniture or get injured falling. I take one of the bigger boys in to watch TV on the sofa with us at night. They get to take turns. It is the cutest thing, they will settle down on my chest or in my lap and go to sleep, along with several kitty cats curled up around us. The cats seem used to the turtles now and don't seem interested in them, except when the hamster balls are rolling around ... then the kitties get out of the way fast.

[marisa]

I have Lee's largest one, which I used to use with my RES to allow him to roam and not get underfoot when I cleaned his tank (I now clean and change water in the early am, and he's put in a box to sleep). On the positive side, I could keep track of Tilly (my RES). On the negative side, Tilly would walk around until he would manage to get the ball "stuck" somewhere (in a corner, for example) and not be able to get it moving again. He would also sometimes poop in the ball and smear the poop on the inside as he walked---not fun cleaning a turtle's paws or the inside of the ball for that matter...

You have to be careful to not put a turtle in a ball that's too small---they can't arch their backs to accomodate the curve of the ball. If they're to small for the ball, they might have difficulty moving it smoothly as well.

[vear]

Hah!! That's funny, I never thought of that... cervoned1: I'd love to see a video of your turtle in the hamster ball!