General Care Discussion :: Normal Activity for A 7 YR old Female RES

[RDHome]

So, my RES is in a 90 gallon tank, and has a tons of space.

I am wondering what normal activity for her should be? She is 7 yrs old, and pretty lazy lol. She isn't lethargic, she does swim around but mostly she allows herself to float beside her basking rock. She basks at night time, which means that her basking light is always on, however as much as that might be rule breaking, her basking light has been on since the day I got her, as it provides her heat also.

When I remove her from the tank to have some much needed floor time, she wanders around on the floor exploring and climbing things (supervised).

Her tank is pretty empty, Im also wondering what kinds of things she should have in her tank? She has some rocks, big ones, so she can scrape her shell when she wants to. A piece of floating drift wood in there too, so she has something to push around, and get some exercise.

What more should I be doing for my turtle to enrich her life?

[steve]

How much water is in there? I'm not sure why you would let her bask at night, do you have a heater? When does she sleep?

[RDHome]

She sleeps whenever she feels like sleeping, she has always basked at night, since I got her she was a night basker, she has a ton of water, the 90 gallon is half full. She has a great deal of space, and she is healthy, and content. I was just curious what normal activity is for a 7 year old female slider

[steve]

Well, a light constantly on is not normal. RES are diurnal, so they should only be active during the day. Eat, bask, sleep, poop are normal activities. Most people have basking/UVB on for about 12-14 hours. I think sand and driftwood make really nice decorations that are simple and inexpensive. With a 90 gallon, I'd fill up that tank more.