Do Tortoises Sleep With Their Heads Out?

There are two different ways in which a tortoise can sleep. One of them is with its head and legs stretched out. Or it can sleep while completely hiding in its shell. In this article, we are going to take a look at what each sleeping position means and why tortoises choose to sleep the way they do.

Tortoises sleep with their head out only when they feel safe. Most tortoises sleep with their heads and legs tucked inside their shells in order to protect themselves from possible predators. If a tortoise feels completely safe in its environment it will start to relax and sleep with its head and legs out.

While there are a few more reasons why a tortoise could end up sleeping with its head out, they are very situational and don’t influence pet turtles. But before we take a look at them let’s discuss a little more about tortoises and when they feel safe enough to sleep with their head out.

When Do Tortoises Feel Safe in Their Sleep?

As we all know tortoises are very easy to scare, and as soon as they see something or someone that could hurt them, even if they don’t want to, they will hide in their shell. So it can take a while to convince a tortoise that they are in no danger. So how can you do this?

The short answer is that you have to take good care of them.

If you regularly feed your tortoise, provide a good basking area, and keep all possible dangers away from it, your tortoise will start to trust you and realize that there is no danger in its environment, and it can start to relax a little.

Some tortoises will never sleep with their head out simply because they are more cautious than other tortoises. This has nothing to do with the way you take care of your tortoise, but with its personality. Even if tortoises share a lot of common traits they will have different personalities, some will be more inclined to trust people, some will be core cautious, and some will be more aggressive. There isn’t much that you can do in this case.

To test if your tortoise trust you enough, gently pick it up by the sides of the shell. If your tortoise retracts in its shell as soon as it sees you coming close and stays that way then you still have to earn its trust.

If you want an in-depth guide on how you can earn the trust of your tortoise you can check out this article: Do Tortoises Recognize Their Owners? The Surprising Answer, where I discuss how tortoises see their owners, and where you can find a step-by-step guide on how to build trust with your tortoise.

Other Reasons Why Tortoises Sleep With Their Head Out

In the wild, you will almost never see a tortoise sleeping with its head out. Simply because they don’t feel safe. But like in every case there is one exception. And that exception is a tortoise that has no predators. The Galapagos Tortoise.

The Galapagos Tortoise is a tortoise that can grow so big that no other animal in its vicinity will dear attack it. And it knows it. So as soon as they reach adulthood, all Galapagos Tortoises will sleep with their head and legs out.

While they are babies and are still growing Galapagos Tortoises will sleep with their head and legs tucked in their shells like most tortoises, since there are a few animals, mainly birds that are still a threat to them.

Another exception is the Desert Tortoise. But unlike the Galapagos Tortoise, the Desert Tortoise doesn’t do this because they feel safe, but because they need to cool off. As the name implies this tortoise mainly lives in the desert, and while it’s somewhat used to the heat, at times it can get too hot even for them. So when they sleep, they will choose to extend their neck and their legs in order to cool off.

When Do Tortoises Sleep?

Most tortoises are active during the day and they sleep during the night. But they also tend to take naps when they are basking.

During those naps, tortoises tend to keep their head and legs out of their shells. But those naps are somewhat different from sleeping, since the tortoise is more awake than asleep, and it can react faster if something happens. They also need to extend their head and legs in order to catch as much UVB light, which gives them vitamin D.

Very rarely some wild tortoises will sleep during the day, but they only do this before or after laying eggs.

Where Do Tortoises Sleep?

When choosing a place to sleep one of the most important factors for tortoises 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 tortoises. Only when a tortoise feels completely safe it will stop carrying about the spot where they sleep.

But usually, they will try to find a good place near piles of rocks, and if possible they will try to stay under them. These kinds of spots offer great protection from predators that attack from above.

Other places they like to sleep are tree stumps as well as holes in the ground. Those spots usually offer great protection from all kinds of predators.

If they can find no rocks or holes to hide they can also go to places with dense vegetation. These kinds of places greatly reduce visibility thus making them a great place to sleep.

How Long Do Tortoises Sleep For?

Tortoises usually sleep between 4 and 6 hours during the night. Pet tortoises also tend to take short naps during the day when they are basking, which can last up to one hour.

Wild tortoises might also take short naps while basking, but this is less common as it leaves them vulnerable to predator attacks.

But of course, the exact amount of time will differ from species to species, as well as other factors like the age of the tortoise, size of the tortoise, predators, etc.

Final Thoughts

So, tortoises can sleep with their head out. But they only do so when they feel safe. If they don’t feel completely safe they will hide in their shells when they sleep in order to protect themselves in case something tries to attack them while they sleep.

I hope this article answered all of your questions about tortoises and how they sleep, but in case there is anything else that you would like to know, don’t hesitate to leave a question in the comment section below. I regularly check for questions and answer each and every one of them.