General Care Discussion :: Scooter's acting weird...

[Johnchops]

So my wife and I just did a massive upgrade for Scooter... Upgraded from a 30g to a 75g tank, new sand, new filter, new... well, pretty much everything. Finally got the tank all ready for him, and transferred him over to it today. He pretty much spent the day exploring his new area.

Well, a little while ago, I noticed him doing something that I hadn't ever seen him do before. It looked like he was trying to burrow his way under one of our 'stone' decorations. After watching for a while, we decided he's actually trying to scratch his top shell on one of the 'coral' parts of the decoration. He has been doing this for over 30 minutes now...

I've never seen him do anything like this before. Granted, his old tank didn't really have anything he could use to scratch himself...

Any ideas why he would be doing this? Is it a natural behavior to try to shed some scales from his shell? Could it indicate some kind of problem? Or could he just be a little stressed over the move?

Any suggestions are appreciated... Thanks!


John, Teresa, & Scooter

[dumbork14]

Hello! Yes, this is natural behavior. It could be that he's really trying to get rid of the scutes. What is his basking area like? Is he getting enough heat and UVB? Try putting him under direct sunlight to help him along in shedding. Also, for your ease of mind, try searching youtube for scratching, itchy turtle. You will not stop laughing

[Johnchops]

Thanks for the response!

He seems to have calmed down with the scratching, but I'm pretty sure that you're right, and he's just trying to help shed his scutes... I had no idea that their shells would itch them like that while shedding. It makes me feel bad that he didn't have any kind of 'scratching post' for the past two years

For his basking area, right now we just have one of the floating turtle platforms that attaches to the side of the tank, with a mercury vapor bulb above it for the UVB and heat. The bulb is old and needs to be replaced though, so I'm going to be getting a new one some time in the next few days. Hopefully that will help him shed a bit quicker!

I did check out the youtube videos... my wife and I lost it... so hilarious!

Thanks again for the reply!

John, Teresa & Scooter

[steve]

Just keep an eye out since they can get stuck sometimes. They like to explore and hide in tight spaces.

[CactusJohn5]

completely natural, like steve said just make sure they can not get stuck anywhere. My girls love to scratch there shells on my shelf/stairs

[GarysMom]

lol when i first moved mine into his new big tank we made him a little cave out of a pot. he loves it so much. and sleeps there every night.

anyway, when we first put in his cave he fell in love so hard, that he humped it all night long LOL.