Over the years, turtles have grown to become some of the most fancied and exciting animals to keep as pets. For this reason, they have been put under the microscope with people trying to understand everything about these docile and slow-moving creatures.
Among the things that most turtle lovers want to understand is whether they are nocturnal or diurnal. Some pet owners claim that they have seen their pet turtles sleep during the day and perform various activities during the night. Others argue that turtles follow the night-day routine just like human beings.
To help shed light on the matter, let’s delve into the sleeping habits of turtles and determine whether they are nocturnal or diurnal.
Are All Turtle Nocturnal?
Essentially, turtles are not nocturnal since they are not adapted to staying active throughout the night. Although all turtles are naturally diurnal, some, especially those in captivity, have shown signs of becoming nocturnal in response to routines introduced by their owners.
It’s also crucial to note that turtles can be active at night during certain seasons and occasions. However, before we progress further, let’s try and differentiate between nocturnal and diurnal animals.
What’s the Difference between Nocturnal and Diurnal Creatures?
Nocturnal Animals
Nocturnal creatures are active at night and sleep or rest during the day. Essentially, these animals scavenge and perform routine activities when the dark sets in and rest up when the sun rises.
The reasons why some animals stay active at night can differ from one creature to the next. First, most nocturnal animals live in harsh and unsafe environments, such as the desert. For this reason, they have to adapt to extreme conditions to survive. They often hide and sleep when the temperatures are high and come out to look for food and move around at night when the heat is bearable.
Another compelling reason why animals stay active at night is to escape predators. Since most predators roam around and look for prey during the day, nocturnal animals find disguised and safe hiding spots during the day and only come out when the predators go to sleep at night.
Conversely, some animals are nocturnal because they cannot hunt during the day. Instead of trying to outrun their prey during the day, these creatures have profound senses that help them track their prey and catch them unaware at night. Most nocturnal animals boast enhanced senses of smell, sight, and hearing.
Diurnal Animals
Diurnal animals scavenge for food, exercise, do all essential things during the day, and sleep at night. A significant percentage of all animals are diurnal and thus don’t have anything that’s considered unique.
Now that we clearly understand the significant differences between nocturnal and diurnal animals let’s shift our focus to why turtles can’t be considered nocturnal creatures.
Why are Turtles Inherently Considered to be Diurnal Creatures?
Although turtles are known to do a few things at night when they are supposed to be sleeping, they lack adaptive capabilities to qualify them as nocturnal animals. These calm and shell-carrying creatures don’t boast enhanced senses that most nocturnal animals have. These are some of the things that make turtles diurnal and not nocturnal:
Turtles Lack Strong Senses
As a turtle owner, you might have noticed that senses are not the most robust tools your pet that turtle has in its arsenal. Acute senses come in handy for nighttime scavengers as they help them forage for food and stay safe at night.
Besides being unable to see at night, turtles have inferior hearing and smelling capabilities. The lack of eardrums or external years only allows these docile creatures to perceive and hear sounds of between 200 t0 750 hertz.
Despite their sense of smell being slightly superior to hearing, it is still not adequate to help them decipher another animal’s scent from a distance.
The Lack of Night Vision
Unlike the sense of smell and hearing, turtles boast well-developed eyesight. Their eyes are designed to adapt to the light in the environment they’re in. However, their eyes fall short in spectral range and intensity.
The main component that enables animals to see at night is the tapetum lucidum, which, unfortunately, turtles don’t have. So, while turtles can slowly adjust to the darkness and move about, they can’t move efficiently and won’t even notice when something is coming at a distance.
Turtles Need to Bask to get Adequate UVB
Since turtles depend entirely on the natural environment to maintain optimal body temperature, they need to bask and get ultimate sunshine every day.
More importantly, UVB light plays an integral role in developing solid shells and bones. Light is essential in processing calcium, an integral component of healthy bones.
Although artificial UVB light can be introduced in a turtle’s tank, they’ll need to get natural sunlight once in a while. This is because there is no artificial light that can substitute natural sunlight.
As we also know, sunshine is only available during the day. If turtles rest when the sun is shining brightly, this will compromise their ability to get UVB light.
Their Slow Maneuvering Doesn’t Suit Nocturnal Animals
Unlike most nocturnal creatures, turtles’ slow locomotive skills make them unsuitable for nighttime adventures. Add this to the fact that they don’t have night vision, can’t smell predators or hear them from a distance. To sum it up, turtles don’t have any unique feature that may allow them to evade predators, leave alone forage at night.
Are There Activities that Turtles Engage in at Night?
Despite being diurnal, turtles don’t sleep that much at night. They sometimes engage in various night activities, making some people misinterpret it as being nocturnal. However, most of these nighttime activities are vitally essential for their existence.
Typically, female turtles will move to the land and search for the right spot to nest. They usually look for a site that is safe and disguised. Female turtles move ashore and crawl above the high tideline if not disturbed. The creatures use their front clippers to dig a hole to lay their eggs and cover them. They look for nesting spots at night to ensure that no predator preys on them.
On the other hand, the male turtles also attend breeding sites. They usually do this at night to minimize interaction with predators and ensure that the spots stay hidden from other animals.
Where Do Turtles Sleep?
Turtle can sleep in different places depending on the species and comfort. Some sleep in the water, while others sleep on dry land or basking spots.
Are there Turtles That Sleep Underwater?
Turtles can sleep when submerged in water or at the surface. Some like mud turtles, red eared sliders, painted turtles, and musk turtles can easily slumber underwater.
While most of these turtles can sleep underwater, their sleep sessions last between 5-7 hours. They will swim to the surface, refuel their oxygen supply, dive back to the bottom, and continue to enjoy their sleep.
However, painted turtles and musk turtles can breathe underwater through cloacal respiration, a technique that relies on particular muscles on the turtle’s neck.
Freshwater turtles are known to bury themselves in moss and marshy grasses to sleep. Some, like the box turtle, don’t sleep in the water. Since they are terrestrial creatures, they don’t need a pool or aquarium but rather a dry terrarium.
If you have a turtle that sleeps underwater, it’s crucial to ensure that they’re getting the right amount of oxygen. You can ensure that your tank has enough oxygen and has clean water at all times by adding a water filter/pump. You also need to provide ample space, especially if you’re keeping multiple turtles in one tank.
What if the Turtle Drowns While Sleeping?
Now that you know that turtles can sleep underwater, you might be wondering what will happen if they forget to come out to gulp some air! Can they drown while sleeping?
Luckily, it’s nearly impossible for turtles to drown while sleeping since they are always alert and swim to the surface whenever their bodies detect a low oxygen supply.
More importantly, some, like musk turtles, can breathe even when at the bottom of the tank or pool. Conversely, research indicates that some turtles can hibernate underwater for months (mud turtles).
However, the unexpected may happen if the turtle gets trapped underground. While it’s not typical for a turtle to drown when sleeping, it can easily drown if it gets stuck or trapped by foreign materials.
Therefore, you need to ensure that the turtle tank doesn’t have things, such as decoration, branches, or plants that can trap or curtail the turtles’ movements. These obstacles can trap turtles when they are about to get to the surface to gulp fresh air and go back to sleep underwater.
Additionally, you should provide the proper pool depth for baby turtles. If you keep them in a tank or aquarium that’s too deep, they might decide to sleep underwater but find it hard to swim to the surface and when they need to take a breather after a given period. Experts recommend keeping the water level about two and half times the length of the young turtle.
Do these Shell-Carrying Reptiles Sleep with their Eyes Closed?
If you’re wondering whether you’ll see your turtle close its eyes as it slumber, the answer is yes. Turtles boast three eyelids which play a crucial role in helping the eyes shut as they sleep.
Apart from the top and bottom eyelids, turtles boast a unique membrane called the nictitating membrane that moves from one side to the next.
The best thing about the membrane is that it allows partial vision even when the turtles are sleeping. It makes these docile creatures appear to be blinking even when they’re dead asleep.
Turtle Owners Claim that Turtles Sleep with Legs out During the Day: Does it have any Significance?
Watching turtles sleep during the day is quite ecstatic, especially how they slumber with their legs and clippers fully extended out. While it might seem like a routine practice done just for the sake, it’s a critical activity.
Since these creatures are cold-blooded, extending their clippers and legs increases the surface area, allowing them to absorb more heat and take in additional UVB rays of sunshine. Simply put, stretching when basking or sleeping is a technique to regulate body temperature.
What Can Make Turtles Sleep More Than Usual?
Essentially, turtles should slumber for 7-10 hours daily. However, if they start extending their sleeping sessions, this indicates a change in the weather pattern or sickness. Here are things that might make your turtle sleep for longer hours:
Low Water Temperature
When the water temperature plummets below optimal levels, turtles respond by sleeping too much and too often. Although low temperatures are typical during winter, water can also get cold in spring or summer, depending on the tank placement and the kind of water you’re are using.
Since different turtle species require precise water temperatures, you should secure a heating system to ensure that the tank or pool stays warm at all times. For terrestrial turtles, keep their cages warm enough during the cold season.
Illnesses
Most animals tend to slumber or close their eyes when grappling with illnesses. Turtles are not exempted. When they get sick, they’ll always look dull and spend most of their time sleeping. Some of the diseases that may lead to a turtle dozing off at all times include respiratory diseases, shell fractures and infection, abscesses, and vitamin A deficiency.
Lack of Enough Basking Time
Turtles are supposed to bask at least a few hours every single day. Since the creatures can’t regulate their temperature internally, they need to absorb heat from the sun to stay vibrant and healthy.
When turtles aren’t getting enough UV light, it can compromise their growth and development progress, immunity and make them lethargic. In response, these docile creatures will look duller and will likely spend most of their time sleeping.
Conclusion
As a wrap, we conclude that turtles are inherently diurnal. Although we have observed that these reptiles do engage in a few activities at night, their disposition and capabilities only allow them to be active during the day.
Since they don’t see at night, have inferior senses of smell and hearing, and need adequate sunlight for survival, turtles can’t be nocturnal. Additionally, they’re too slow to evade predators at night. Interestingly, different turtle species sleep in various positions, including underwater, on the surface, and even on the shores.
Therefore, if you’ve ever seen your turtle busy at night and doubted whether it’s diurnal, it might have been busy trying to find a nesting spot and then get back to sleep.