turtle sleeping underwater

[tortoise_man2]

Why do turtles sleep underwater?
I just caught my baby eastern painted turtle sleeping on his rock with his neck stretched out just far enough to get his head under the water.



David S.

 

[Moozillion]

Wow- I have no idea. It sounds like it could dangerous. I hope someone more knowledgable comes along with some suggestions!

 

[WillTort2]

Any time I walk into the turtle room at night my painted is sitting on the bottom. I'm assuming they go into a relaxed mode where they use very little oxygen and just rest until they need air or they see light. Although it may be that they can process a small amount of oxygen from the water.

I'll look forward to hearing from some of the water turtle experts.

 

[mike taylor]

My sliders sleep under water . Thats the norm for water turtles .

 

[Kathy Coles]

It must be late, I thought it said turtle sleeping underwear.

 

[Moozillion]

It must be late, I thought it said turtle sleeping underwear.

Hahahaha!!!

 

[promisetolove]

All my aquatic turtles sleep underwater

 

[Turtlepete]

Most turtles are able to extract small amounts of oxygen from the water, through their skin, cloaca, or villi in their mouth. The simple answer is they can "breathe" underwater, to varying degrees of success (musks and softies are experts at this.) When sleeping, they're bodily functions are slowed down enough that they use even less oxygen. They can stay underwater for several hours, easily. Water turtles will typically "sleep" on a piece of driftwood, or something similar, near the surface, where they can stretch their necks out to breathe.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

My painted turtles do that too! I've never worried, because it looks rather comfortable, and I feel like they wouldn't if they could suffocate. My midland always blows little bubbles from his nose
hehehe