Why Does My Turtle Swim Towards Me?

fact checked & review by

Dr. Partho Kumar Shaha
Veterinarian (DVM)

The information is current and up-to-date in accordance with the latest veterinarian research.

In this article, I am going to explain why does your turtle swim towards you and why sometimes it swims frantically inside the tank. So, let’s get started.

Why does my turtle swim towards me?

There are a number of reasons a turtle can show this behavior. Here are they:

• Turtles are not the smartest animal. However, they have a high curious instinctive. So, if the aquarium glass is crystal clear, the turtle will often mistake thinking that there is another whole world waiting for him on the other side of the glass. So, it will try to swim at the glass to go to the “other side”. Maybe they think they are going to the other side while they are swimming against the glass, we can never know for sure. But one thing that is sure is, this behavior is not harmful for your turtle. on the other hand, it makes your turtle exercise which promotes good health.
• The turtles associate you as the source of food. Whenever they see you, they think somehow magically food is going to appear in the tank. So, whenever you enter the room, the turtles will try to swim at you, catch your attention and beg food. This is just their way of asking for food.
• Turtles can be adventurous. No matter how big the tank is or how well fed they are, they’ll want to get out of the tank and explore. This is a natural behavior. In the wild, turtles often leave their habitat for a better habitat, even in the presence of great danger. They can leave for in search of a new mate, a better habitat or that’s just how their natural instinct works. Sometimes you may find water turtles a mile away from the nearest water body. They are maybe looking for a new water body. In such cases, if there is a water body where they are heading for, then it is better to take them there. Otherwise, you should return them back to the water body they came from.

Why is my turtle swimming frantically?

This is a common sign of female turtles when they are gravid (carrying eggs). If the turtle is gravid and there is no suitable place to lay eggs inside the tank, then the turtle will swim frantically, show hyper tensed behavior etc.

In such cases, you need to think of a solution immediately. Do you want the turtle to nest outside? Or do you prefer an inside turtle nesting box? Do you want to take care of the eggs? You need to be sure about all these questions.

Here are some guidelines to help you out:

• First, find out the gender of the turtle. If the turtle is female, then most likely it is carrying eggs and looking for a place to lay them. If you don’t know how to identify the sex of a turtle, click here to read my article on this topic.
• You need to decide on the turtle nesting box. You can either set up the nesting box indoor or outdoor. For outdoor, make sure you have a safe place which is protected from wild animals. Also, ensure that the temperature is ideal for hatching the eggs. On the other hand, if you want, you can make a reliable nesting box for an indoor setup. If you want to know in details how to make a nesting box, click here.
• It is not easy to successfully hatch turtle eggs. Furthermore, it is even harder to keep the baby hatchlings healthy and safe. To know how to do all these, read my detailed guide on how to take care of turtle eggs.

Also, I have several other resources on turtle eggs and hatchling care. I am listing them below for you:

1. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT TURTLE EGGS FROM THE OWNERS
2. HOW TO HATCH TURTLE EGGS WITHOUT AN INCUBATOR?
3. ZOO MED REPTIBATOR: MY FAVORITE TURTLE EGG INCUBATOR FOR SALE

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Muntaseer Rahman

Muntaseer Rahman started keeping pet turtles back in 2013. The start wasn’t that good. His first turtle jumped out of the poorly built tank and died.

From then on, Muntaseer started researching on turtles, how to properly take care of them, how to house them properly and most importantly, how to keep pet turtles happy. TheTurtleHub is where Muntaseer shares his knowledge and passion of turtles with others.

Muntaseer also owns the largest Turtle & Tortoise facebook community in Bangladesh.

Muntaseer Rahman is mostly active on Facebook these days.