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ove the past week i have seen my turtle sleeping under her basking spot .... i use cork for her basking spot and i set it up in such a way that its doesnt budge and she is 7.5" and pretty heavy so the cork needs to be stable. when ever i come home from school i see her under the cork with her eyes closed and whenever i come by she wakes up and just swims around .... she eats like normal and she basks quite often and i give her about 10-12 hours of light each day so she gets some shut eye. 2 weeks ago when i put in 15 rosy red minnows she ate 7 within 4 days and now she hasent touched one then.... she still eats all her pellets when i feed her..... i dont know if anything is wrong bu she is sleeping more then ever

No other unusual behavior/symptoms?

well i havent seen any other symptoms but im keeping a close eye

i guess im just worried that she changed her habits ... i guess theres nothing to be afraid about

This morning I woke my turtles up, they were both under water the one closest to the surface was just a couple of inches from it, it was resting on a fake plant with its eyes closed while the other one was at the bottom, I know that they bask because I have sneeked peeks at them and saw them both on the basking platform, so unless you see other weird behavior like swimmine sideways (listing) or opening their mouths wide while stretching their necks at the same time, I wouldn't worry too much, all of us are somewhat paranoid about our turtles, so at times we see things that we have to question, which is fine since that means that you are a good owner.

What does it mean when turtles open their mouths wide and stretch their necks?

My turtle loves to bask and sleep when the weather is not.

court321 wrote:What does it mean when turtles open their mouths wide and stretch their necks?

That is one of the signs of RI, but is should not be confused with either basking (they stretch out their arms, legs, and head all the way out), or yawning, turtles do yawn just like we do, maybe not for the same reasons, but they do it, if you see the turtle doing it very often, especially while stretching it's neck, then that is when you should start looking for a vet, the sooner you catch the RI before the turtle gets too sick the better.

Thanks for the information.

You're welcome