General Care Discussion :: Eating Cords?

[megcornell]

Leo, my turtle, has just started eating live prey (rosy reds), and now he pretty much is always in "hunting mode." The only problem is, I noticed today that he is attacking the cords to his filter and water heater... I don't think he could do any harm to them, and hopefully he'll be back to his chill self in a few days but I just wanted to check and see if he could bite through them, thanks!

[grey goose]

Is he just nipping them or biting hard and trying to pull at them? Most of the time they will tire of this after a while. Whenever my turts get a facination with something in the tank (wires, decorations) I'll put a large peice of cuttle bone somewere close by. Use a veggie clip or jam it tightly against something so it cant move.

[megcornell]

he attacks them, like "JAWS" style, going in with his mouth open like he does when he attacks fish. i'll put some distractions in the tank and hopefully his short attention span will keep him from electrocuting himself, otherwise i guess i could put some PVC around the cords?

[steve]

Mine haven't tried but if they wanted to, I think I would have a problem

Can you position your heater vertically or at an angle to reduce areas where the cord is submerged?

For extra safety you can use a GFCI outlet, which will shut power if it detects an electrical fault.

[grey goose]

Steve is right. Even after your turt gets tired of biting all things electrical, you really should have a GFCI outlet. It's not just for your turts protection, but it protects you also....

[SebastianMillhouse]

My turtle bites anything. I took some refridgerator tubing and slit it down the middle and wrapped around all the cords in my tank. It protects it from bites and what not. It also makes the cord rigid so it sticks straight up out of the water.

Here's a pic of my old set up (pebbles are gone, don't flip out on me) anyway, you can see the tube wrapped around the heater cord.

[grey goose]

Exellent idea!

[megcornell]

Thanks for the ideas guys, my wall outlets have built-in Gfci plates, or they were replaced with ones... so I'm fine on that account, I just didn't know if when Leo gets larger, and stronger he'll be more of a threat to electrocuting himself... looks like I'll be making a home depot trek this weekend to buy some PVC or similar piping.

On a behavioral note... is it possible Leo's "feeling his oats" ? He's also gotten very aggressive and now snaps when I have to pick him up (which is a rare occassion at best). It's almost as if in this past week his personality has completely done a 180... is this normal with turtles as they become adults? I know 4 inches is when sex characteristics show up, but could he be displaying personality traits at only 2.5-3 inches, and does this mean my once mellow turt has become type A?... or perhaps he's just in a crabby mood this week

[grey goose]

Turts, like all pets, are more comfortable when there is an established routine. Has something changed outside of his expectations? You should feed him and do the day-to-day stuff on a regular time frame....

[SpotsMama]

My turtle Spot is usually quite amiable when it comes to being picked up and so forth, though he's always lively. He's nearly 7 inches long and has been "mature" for quite a while. A few days ago he got really aggressive when I moved him inside from an outdoor pond to an indoor tank. He bit me and snapped at me and everything else that moved. Then after a few days he settled down and lets me pick him up again.

I think he was upset with the change in habitat and that's what made him aggressive. Or maybe it was the phase of the moon. The point is, though, he did finally settle down, so hopefully Leo will too. I asked about this aggressive behavior on the forum and nobody suggested that it was anything biological, just that the change in habitat was the most likely cause.

Someone ought to write a book on RES behavior.

[megcornell]

Haha, they should write a book. No, nothing has changed in his routine... he's fed and his lights are turned on every morning at 8am before I head to campus. He seems to be basking regularly... the only real change is the addition of live fish, so perhaps that has him all wound up, he does get quite excited about them.

[steve]

I don't think I've heard of anyone using PVC to protect the cord, though that is up to you. Some larger, more expensive filters come with integrated heaters.

[megcornell]

I think it would be sort of hard to anchor PVC to the side of the tank, so for now I've got as little cord in there as possible. I don't think he's strong enough at his size to do any damage. When he gets bigger and I upgrade his tank (he's only in a 30G now).. I'll look into the combo filter/heater to avoid extra cords. thanks.

[CountryGirl68]

You can attach the pvc with silicon. This way it will stay secure to the tank and later on when you upgrade, you can just cut the silicon away from the glass and reuse the pvc.

[flutterby]

An idea I got from another forum I visit is you can take air tubing (the ones you use for bubble wands) and slit it down the side and use silicon to attack it to your cords. It will make a buffer between the turtle and the cords.