Climbing on top of another turtle is a fairly easy way to accomplish this. There is another possible reason that I have read why turtles do this. However, I have not found an academic source. T hat is is that turtles stack and pile on top of each other to make themselves appear larger than they are.
The reasoning is, in the wild when turtles are basking they often are quite vulnerable to predators. A lone turtle certainly is. But a group of turtles, all stacked and huddled together, makes them appear to be bigger and stronger as a group. I actually found a really reasonable, well-thought-out answer to this question from a response on Quora. In the paper, the authors predicted that according to data, it would take a roughly kilogram alligator to have enough bite force to pierce through the shell of a 2-kilogram turtle.
So rest easy. Even if you see 3 or 4 turtles stacked on each other, the turtle on the bottom is doing just fine. I have never experienced or read about all 3 of these factors working in congruence with another, and eventually leading to something like metabolic bone disease to the afflicted turtle. Of all the possible reasons to be concerned about turtle stacking, this is probably the only one worth a bit of consideration.
This would make sense given our original hypothesis, that turtles pile on top of each other in order to receive more UV rays and warmth, and also to make themselves appear larger to ward off would-be predators. Moreover, at least in my personal experience, I have not noticed anyone turtle always on top. Very often it is one, but not always. The last worry we will look at is bullying and aggressive behavior.
It makes sense to assume that stacking can lead to fighting and combative behavior. However, there is no evidence to support this. Both in the wild and in captivity, there is little to indicate that the act of stacking itself is harmful to turtles. However, other factors can contribute to making stacking harmful. These factors include prior injury and proximity of basking light to turtles.
We will go into more detail in the next section as this is particular to indoor turtle enclosures. As we have already learned, stacking is generally innocuous and is not usually detrimental to the health of the turtle. However, at any one time, the turtles at the bottom of the stack would receive less light and heat as compared to the turtle on top of the pile.
Now if a particular turtle is always at the bottom of a pile, it can suffer from vitamin D deficiency especially if the lights in the enclosure are outputting less than the needed UVB light. However, the likelihood of this is low. In captivity, the main danger of basking is the risk of burns. In the wild, being a few more inches closer to the sun makes no difference. However, this is not the case with indoor enclosures where the main source of warmth is a heat lamp or ceramic emitter.
Here, just being a few inches closer to the lamp makes a lot of difference. Also, turtles can stack up high enough to touch the lamp and get burned. Having a lamp stand to hold the fixture above the tank is an idea, as well as keeping a screen on top with a lock in place. In captivity, there is really no reason why you should allow turtles to stack even if you have several turtles in a single enclosure.
You can either buy a larger turtle dock see our turtle dock guide or even build a basking platform yourself. The platform should be able to accommodate all the turtles at the same time as turtles generally all bask at the same time. Doing so can cause overheating and even burns. The best thing to do is to swap the heat lamp for 2 lower wattage lamps.
This ensures that the temperature of the enclosure remains the same but the light covers a larger area the basking platform. If the temperatures within the enclosure and the basking platform are low, then you need to increase it to the required level.
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy! Already have an account? Sign in here. General Turtle Discussions Search In. Sign in to follow this Followers 0. Why do my turtles stack? Recommended Posts. Report post. Posted April 25, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites. Boxie Lady. Yep, they are seeing who can get closest to the "sun.
That's a great picture! Posted April 26, BTW, with all those tiny little guys, your water should be good and warm, like 80ish?
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