What the heck is she thinking?????

[Moozillion]

I have had a bubbler with an air stone on the end in my mud turtle's aquarium ever since I got her as a tiny juvenile about 1.5 years ago. She has always appeared to ignore it, which is fine with me. But this morning I caught her BITING THE AIRSTONE twice!!!!!!! That CAN'T be good for her???!?!?

The only possible thing I can think of is that I used to have the bubbler down at the end of her tank where the intake and output to her HOB filter are. She never hung out there and just ignored it. But I recently moved it to the other end when I rearranged her tank in anticipation of starting a canister filter in a couple of weeks. So now the bubbler is down in the end where she hangs out.

I'm guessing she doesn't like the bubbler down in "her" personal space????
Unless it means she has a mineral deficiency and is trying to eat things she shouldn't? (She ALWAYS has a cuttlebone floating in her tank, and she chomps on it like a champ. )

 

[Moozillion]

She has been sitting right by the bubbler S-T-A-R-I-N-G at the air stone, so I moved it back to the other end.
It appears to be intact, with no chips bitten off.
Weird little critter...

 

[Moozillion]

Ok- question answered.
Jacques is staying in her usual hangout, with her neck stretched out, looking rather triumphant, having successfully chased that pushy bubbler back to the far end of the tank.

 

[SteveW]

Ok- question answered.
Jacques is staying in her usual hangout, with her neck stretched out, looking rather triumphant, having successfully chased that pushy bubbler back to the far end of the tank.

This is consistent with my mud turtle experience. Mine attacks the algae brush with gusto.

 

[cdmay]

One of my Staurotypus used to pick up a particular river stone in his tank and swim around with it in his mouth. He never tried to eat it in any way....but instead would just carry it around and then drop it on the opposite side of the tank. The he would pick it up again and repeat. He wouldn’t do it all the time but he would several times a day—or night.
We finally had to remove it from him as he would wake us up at night as he dropped it on the bare glass bottom of the aquarium or banged it against the glass.

 

[wellington]

Well, how dare you change her home around on her. She showed you who's boss.

 

[Moozillion]

One of my Staurotypus used to pick up a particular river stone in his tank and swim around with it in his mouth. He never tried to eat it in any way....but instead would just carry it around and then drop it on the opposite side of the tank. The he would pick it up again and repeat. He wouldn’t do it all the time but he would several times a day—or night.
We finally had to remove it from him as he would wake us up at night as he dropped it on the bare glass bottom of the aquarium or banged it against the glass.

How weird....[emoji38]

 

[Moozillion]

Well, how dare you change her home around on her. She showed you who's boss.

She did, indeed!!!!!! [emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]

 

[harris]

Wait. Jacquez turned out to be Jackie?!? I missed this announcement!

 

[Moozillion]

Wait. Jacquez turned out to be Jackie?!? I missed this announcement!

Haha, yes! When I first got her as a tiny juvenile, she was too young to know her gender. So I named her Jacques, after Jacques Cousteau- the famous French undersea explorer. My whole family and I loved watching his undersea explorations on TV.
Once she got old enough for her gender to be apparent, someone on the forum who saw her photo told me she was female..
I thought seriously about changing her name and even tried out a few names, but I had been calling her Jacques for over a year and it just stuck.
This sort of thing seems pretty common- I know a forum member with a MALE leopard tortoise whose name is Lola! I don’t think Jacques really cares WHAT I call her, as long as I feed her on time!!!!! [emoji38][emoji38][emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]