Can Turtles Sleep Underwater? (Simple Beginners Guide)

Like most animals, turtles need to sleep, but unlike most other animals turtles have a very interesting way of sleeping.

On average a turtle is able to sleep underwater for 2 to 4 hours, without having the need to get out for oxygen. But this is not the case for all turtles, some of them are able to sleep for 6 or more hours underwater, while other species can’t stay underwater at all.

Turtles can sleep underwater, but they can’t stay there forever, and there are a few turtle species that can’t stay underwater at all. In this guide, we are going to take a look at how long turtles can stay underwater, how they breathe underwater, and which turtles can sleep underwater.

But first, let’s start with the beginning and see how and where turtles actually sleep.

How Turtles Sleep

When it comes to choosing a place to sleep, the thing that turtles care about the most is security. They want a place where most predators, like birds, dogs, lizards, ants, etc. won’t be able to reach them. So, the best place for them to sleep without having to worry about predators is underwater.

But, underwater is not completely safe either, while there aren’t as many predators here, there are still some, so turtles will try to hide from them, so they will choose to sleep at the bottom of the lake covered with mud, or it will look for a whole near the banks of a river or an area with dense vegetation in a pond, and so on.

There is just one more thing that turtles are interested in, besides security, when choosing a spot to sleep. And that thing is how easy it is to reach the surface. This is because turtles still need to breathe air.

How Long Can Turtles Stay Underwater

On average most turtles can spend about 20 minutes underwater, but when they are sleeping turtles can stay up to 4 hours underwater. Let me explain why the big difference.

Under normal circumstances, when they swim all over the place, turtles are able to hold about 20 minutes of oxygen in their lungs, but when they are sleeping the activity of their whole body is reduced so those 20 minutes transform into 4 hours or more.

Compared to humans the body of a turtle works very differently, while a human won’t be able to add more than 30 seconds to the time he would be able to stay underwater, by doing nothing, turtles are able to add a few hours. But the fact that turtles are able to breathe underwater through their butt also helps a lot.

How Turtles Breathe Underwater

Turtles have the very unique ability to breathe underwater through their butt.

The butt of a turtle is made out of a tail that has a cloaca at its base. Here is a picture so you can get a better idea.

The cloaca is a 4 in 1 orifice, which is the opening for the digestive, reproductive and urinary tract. And it can also be used to breathe underwater.

The cloaca works in a similar way to the lungs, when the turtle is inside the water the cloaca will act like a pump that will suck water inside and after it gathers all the oxygen from it, it will expel the water out, and then it will start over.

But even if the cloaca allows turtles to breathe underwater, it won’t allow them to do so for very long. The amount of oxygen that the cloaca is able to obtain from water is very low. Under normal circumstances, if the turtle stays underwater for 20 minutes, the cloaca is probably responsible for 2 or 3 of those minutes. But during sleep and hibernation, things are completely different.

When turtles sleep and hibernate their metabolic rates decrease very much. So the amount of oxygen that the cloaca is able to produce on its own is perfect in this situation.

But as I said at the start, not all turtles are able to sleep or breathe underwater, even if they have a cloaca. So let’s see which turtles can and can’t sleep underwater.

What Turtles Can and Can’t Sleep Underwater

The turtle family splits into three distinctive groups, and depending on which group a turtle falls in, it will tell you exactly if it can stay underwater, and how long.

Aquatic turtles which are able to sleep underwater, here are a few members of this group:

Red Eared Sliders
Painted Turtles
Pond Turtles
Map Turtles
Wood Turtles

Land turtles, which are also known as tortoises, those turtles are unable to sleep or breathe underwater, here are a few members of this group:

Box Turtle
Russian Tortoise
Hermann Tortoise
Greek Tortoise
Indian Star Tortoise

While tortoises are part of the large turtle family, they are a distinctive group that can’t swim and can’t spend more than a couple of minutes underwater. So sleeping underwater is out of the question for them.

The third group is the sea turtle group, which lives and sleeps underwater, but just like the rest of the turtles, they need oxygen in order to survive. But they don’t need to get out for oxygen as much, on average a sea turtle can stay for about 2 hours underwater while swimming, and for more than 6 hours while sleeping.

Before ending the article we should take a quick look at some very common and dangerous mistakes new turtle owners can make, regarding their turtles and how they sleep.

The Most Common Mistakes

Mistake 1

Even if turtles can stay a lot of time underwater, they still need air. And in order to breathe properly, they will need something to sit on, or at least to hold themselves when they are tired.

So make sure that you have an easily accessible basking area and a decoration like this log on which they can sit and breathe properly.

Mistake 2

Most turtles like to hide when they are sleeping, it’s in their instinct to do so.

A lot of new turtle owners believe that turtles don’t feel safe around them and this is why they hide, but that’s not the case. Turtles are born with a lot of instincts that help them defend themselves from predators, even if there aren’t any around.

The mistake is that people don’t provide turtles with a proper place to hide. If turtles can’t hide when they are scared they will eventually get stressed out which is bad for their health. So go to your local pet shop, or to Amazon and get a few decorations for your tank.

Just don’t go overboard with decorations, and make sure to avoid small and fragile things that a turtle can break, because at one point it will break it.

Mistake 3

One of the most common mistakes people make is considering that box turtles are not tortoises. Most tortoises have the word tortoise in their name, but the box turtle doesn’t, so it’s easy to mistake them for an aquatic turtle.

If you own a box turtle, or you want to get one remember that it’s a tortoise, not an aquatic turtle, they don’t need a tank full of water, they can’t swim properly, and they can drown very easily.

While not everybody owns a box turtle, they are quite popular, and unfortunately, they can suffer a lot because of their misleading name.

Final Thoughts

So, some turtles can sleep underwater while some don’t. The ones that can are called aquatic turtles and the ones that don’t are called tortoises.

Most turtles that can sleep underwater will usually do so, the only times that they won’t do this is when they don’t have access to water. If your pet turtle is an aquatic turtle but doesn’t sleep in the water, there might be something wrong with the water, in which case I suggest you do something about this fast, if you need more info, check out this link where you will find articles on this subject.

Before ending the article here are some of the most common questions that people have about the way turtles sleep.

Common Questions

Do Turtles Sleep Inside Their Shell? Not all turtles are able to retract to their shells and some turtles, like sea turtles, have soft shells. So for some species, it won’t do them any favor to retract their shells. But most turtles do retract in their shells when they are sleeping. They usually do this to hide and protect themselves from any predators that could attack them.

When Do Turtles Sleep? Most turtles are active during the day and they sleep during the night. But they also tend to take naps when they are basking. If you own a pet turtle you’ve probably noticed that when basking your turtle tends to extend its legs, close its eyes and stay unmoved for long periods of time. When they do this they are most probably sleeping.

Where Do Turtles Sleep? When choosing a place to sleep one of the most important factors for turtles is protection. They will try to find a sleeping spot that offers them good protection against predators. This applies to both pets as well as wild turtles. Usually, they will try to find a good place near piles of rocks, tree stumps, holes in the ground, or spots with dense vegetation.

How Long Do Turtles Sleep? Turtles usually sleep between 4 and 6 hours during the night. Pet turtles also tend to short naps during the day when they are basking, which can last up to one hour.