The nighttime, for you and your tortoise, should be a peaceful time when sleep happens, but if your pet is restless at this time you’d understandably start to worry
This article looks into why your turtle is restless while sleeping.
Table of Contents
Why is my turtle restless while sleeping?
If you’re asleep and at peace at night, and your pet turtle starts fussing, fighting, and becoming restless at night you’d likely want to nip that in the bud as soon as you can
Here is why these reptiles act like this and what you can do about it:
The animal is new:
If your pet is new to your property and is still getting used to the new enclosure then the animal may simply be restless because it doesn’t understand its new environment and doesn’t like to feel confined in it
As a result of feeling this way your pet may move around the enclosure both in the morning and the night trying to get out of there
These animals need a large enclosure and even if they do have a large enclosure they need to feel comfortable and relaxed in their enclosure, if they don’t they will act erratically.
What to do:
If your pet is new, and the enclosure is suitable, if it is furnished well, and if it is large enough then the reptile will get used to it soon enough and will stop being restless while sleeping.
You just have to give it time
The animal is overheating:
If the animal’s environment is warmer than usual then this may cause the reptile to overheat and be restless at night when it’s supposed to be sleeping.
These animals are cold-blooded so their environment greatly determines the temperature of their bodies.
As a result, if the outside temperature goes up the animal’s body temperature goes up which makes their metabolism work faster and makes the animal more restless.
This increase in temperature may also make the reptile want more food because its metabolism is higher which makes it go around looking for food at night making it more restless.
What to do:
Cooling the animal’s environment should keep the animal from getting restless. If you have a heater in your pet’s enclosure then turning it down to a cooler temperature should help stop the restlessness at night.
If you have a heater with an automatic thermostat then you can set it to where it will turn off when the environment becomes too hot
The animal is sick:
Another reason why your pet turtle may be restless may be that the animal is sick. If your pet’s health is not optimal then the animal’s sleep schedule may change because it is uncomfortable.
Feeling uncomfortable because of sickness will cause a change in the animal’s routine and this may look like the animal being restless when sleeping.
What to do:
The best thing to do for your sick pet is to take it to the vet, the vet will be able to quickly and easily diagnose your pet as well as treat the animal for its condition.
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: Why Do Turtles Put Their Feet Up, Why Is My Turtle Restless While Sleeping, My Tortoise Is Not Responding, Why Is My Tortoise Stiff, Why Is My Turtle Swimming Upside Down, Hit My Turtle With A Lawn Mower, What Happens When You Drop A Turtle On Its Back?, Can Turtles Survive A Fall?, Turtle Bleeding From The Bottom Of Shell