Turtles, just like a variety of other animals, have very intriguing behaviors to us humans, one such behavior that may be intriguing to you is your pet turtle scratching its shell against a toothbrush, these animals can scratch in this way quite vigorously.
This article looks into why your turtle may be doing this.
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Turtle scratching shell on toothbrush:
The act of turtles rubbing their shells on toothbrushes may seem quite odd and unusual but it actually happens to quite a few of these animals and isn’t uncommon.
Here is why your pet turtle may be doing this:
The animal is itchy:
The shells of turtles can get itchy just as the skin of humans can get itchy. Turtles can feel their shells, their shells have nerve endings so they can feel when the shell starts to get irritated and itchy.
If your pet starts to feel itchy it will scratch itself on the first thing it can find and the first thing that it finds may be a toothbrush.
What to do:
The occasional itchiness is normal for turtles and isn’t something to worry about, the animal knows how much to scratch to avoid injuring its shell in any way. You can just let the animal be.
It feels good:
Another reason why your turtle may be scratching its shell against a toothbrush may simply be because the feeling of the toothbrush rubbing against the shell may be stimulating or comforting.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the animal’s shell is itchy. The activity may simply be enriching.
What to do:
This is normal behavior and isn’t something that you’d need to worry about or do anything about.
Cleaning the shell:
Turtles may also rub their shells against toothbrushes as a part of shell care.
In the wild, these animals would rub their shells against surfaces to clean and maintain their shells. This rubbing got rid of any parasites and algae from the shells.
Your pet may be doing this in its enclosure using a toothbrush.
What to do:
Just as with the previous reason your pet turtle scratching itself to clean its shell is normal. The animal knows how much to scratch itself to remove enough algae but not damage its shell.
Your turtle is simply mimicking the natural behavior that it would exhibit in the wild. This is normal and natural for turtles.
The animal is shedding:
Another reason why your pet turtle may be scratching its shell against a toothbrush may be because the animal is shedding pieces of the shell.
Your pet’s shell will be itchy during scute shedding, the animal likely knows that rubbing its shell against its shell against a toothbrush relieves itchiness, so it will do this.
What to do:
This is very normal and natural behavior for turtles and isn’t something that you’d need to worry about.
The animals know how hard to brush to relieve their itchiness without damaging the shell in any way. This scratching may actually help to remove the scutes from the animal’s shell.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: What Kills Pet Turtles?, Do Turtles Eat Their Babies?, Male Turtle Biting Female Neck, Why Is My Turtle Attacking My Other Turtle?, Why Is My Turtle Biting The Other One?, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Head Off, Why Does My Turtle Try To Bite Me?, Do Male Turtles Eat The Eggs, Why Do Turtles Put Their Feet Up At Night?