Do Turtles Have Feelings? (+ How to Make Them Like You)

While turtles are not very expressive, sometimes you can easily tell that they are not in a good mood. But do turtles have feelings or is it just a false impression?

Turtles do have feelings. The range of feelings that a turtle has is relatively small compared to humans, but it’s very complex, ranging from basic feelings like fear to complex feelings like depression.

Now, let’s go over some of the most important feelings, and see what causes them. And after we are done with the feelings I will tell you how you can make sure that your turtle only has good feelings towards you.

Do Turtles Get Bored?

Turtles can very easily get bored. But unlike humans, they don’t get bored due to repetitive tasks or the lack of new options.

Turtles only get bored when there is absolutely nothing to do.

There are four main activities that turtles do to combat boredom:

Swimming
Digging
Climbing
Hunting

Swimming is the main activity. Unsurprisingly, turtles really like to swim, and when they are not basking or resting this is what they like to do the most. But in order to swim properly, turtles need enough space, this is one of the reasons why people should always follow the 10 gallons of water per inch of shell rule. This way turtles will be able to freely float around in the tank or frantically swim from side to side.

Digging is another pastime activity turtles enjoy. Scientists assume that one of the earliest ancestors of the turtles was an animal that lived underground, and apparently, some of those digging genes were passed down to the modern turtles. But at the moment this is just an assumption. But what’s not an assumption is the fact that turtles really like to dig. So if you can maybe add some earth to the basking area for your turtle to dig into.

Climbing, probably the most surprising hobby, but turtles really like to climb. If you were to observe turtles in the wild you will notice that a lot of them will choose to climb over things for no practical reason. The only reason why they do it is that they like it. So if you have some space available give your turtle something to climb onto, just make sure that they won’t climb out of the tank.

Hunting serves two purposes, one is obviously a food source, and the second is entertainment. You can easily give your turtle something to hunt by getting a few feeder fish from the pet shop. Just make sure that you don’t get dangerous fish like a goldfish. If you want a complete list of which fish you should give your turtle and which fish you should avoid check out my article: Can Turtles Live With Fish? Will My Turtle Eat the Fish?

Do Turtles Get Lonely?

Turtles are extremely antisocial, so they don’t get lonely, they actually prefer to be by themselves.

In the wild turtles rarely interact with each other, in the case of most turtles they only interact with other turtles when the mating season comes, but at rest, they prefer to be alone.

Sometimes you can see multiple turtles gathering in the same spot, but that is just because that spot provides some benefits for each of them, so it’s not a social gathering.

One strange occasion when turtles interact with each other is when they stack, which will look like this:

If you want to know why they do this, and what are the benefits check out this article: Why Do Turtles Stack? (with Pictures and Videos).

But as pets turtles won’t usually ignore each other as they do in the wild, instead they will become aggressive.

Turtles can be extremely territorial, and when there isn’t enough space for everybody they will start to fight amongst themselves.

Food can also be a problem, even if you give each turtle enough food, they will still fight to steal each other’s food.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t have more than one turtle in one tank, you definitely can, but you will need a really big tank, and even then you should expect to see them fighting from time to time.

But to get back at the original question, no, turtles don’t get lonely, they actually prefer it that way.

Can Turtles Get Depressed?

Unfortunately, turtles can and will get depressed if they are under constant stress.

While turtles don’t look like sensitive animals they are. And they can get stressed quite easily, which can lead to depression.

There are quite a few things that can stress a turtle, some of the most common are:

Another pet like a dog or a cat that keeps trying to play with them. A loud environment. A lot of vibrations, improper handling, bad living conditions, etc.

If your turtle is under constant stress, no matter the source, at some point it will be too much to handle and it will become depressed, which can manifest in multiple ways, and most of them result in physical health problems.

Now let’s talk about something a little more positive.

Can Turtles Be Happy?

Turtles can be happy, but their happiness is different from the one that you and I feel. A happy turtle is very similar to what we would call contented. So a turtle is happy because it has everything that it needs.

A turtle will definitely look happier when it’s time to eat, but it’s just for a very short moment, so it’s not really happiness, it’s more similar to excitement.

The overall consensus is that turtles can be happy, but it’s the “ I’m happy that I have everything I need” more than the “I’m happy that I got a promotion at work” type of happiness.

Can Turtles Be Sad?

Despite the fact that turtles can be happy, there is no indication that turtles can be sad.

We, humans, feel sadness mainly due to our intelligence and our attachment to persons or things. But turtles don’t have our emotional intelligence so they don’t get attached to anything, and as a result, they don’t feel sadness.

While it’s true that there are more types of sadness, I won’t get into detail about all types, as the answer is the same for our question, turtles can’t be sad.

Can Turtles Get Scared?

Turtles can get scared very easily.

Like most animals, turtles place survival on the top spot on the priority list. So if they think that there is a danger they will immediately back away or hide in their shell. If something takes them by surprise they will get scared and retract to their shell immediately. And they will stay there until it’s safe to get out

Do Turtles Feel Pain?

While pain is perceived as a physical feeling, it’s actually generated by the brain. The same is true for both humans and animals. Pain is the way in which the brain tells us that there is something wrong in an area, and how severe it is.

There are people in this world who don’t feel any pain, and the same is true for animals. But those are exceptions.

Most turtles feel pain through their entire body, which includes the shell.

Now that we discussed the majority of feelings that turtles have, let’s see how to make sure that your turtle will only experience the good ones.

How to Make Your Turtle Like You

In order to make your turtle happy you have to do a few simple things. Provide good living conditions and keep boredom and stress away.

Turtles need three basic things: A tank filled with water, a proper diet, and a basking area. We’ve already discussed the tank at the beginning of the article, for the basking area and diet I will leave you links to two articles, as both topics are a little more complex and deserved dedicated articles:

In order to keep your turtles from getting bored, you can provide them with: enough space to swim, some soil to dig into, something to climb, and some feeder fish. But I know that not everybody has enough space or the budget to buy a huge tank that can provide all of those things.

But you should at least make sure that your turtle has enough space to swim. While digging soil and something to climb onto would have been nice if there is enough space to swim, and from time to time you add a few feeder fish in the tank, your turtle won’t ever get bored.

As for the stress, it’s actually quite easy. Put yourself in the place of your turtle and ask yourself if something will stress you. A stereo as big as your house right under you? Most likely it will stress you. A TV a few feet away, kept at a reasonable volume, most likely not a problem.

A cat that is always trying to eat you, definitely a stress factor. A cat that doesn’t even pay attention to you, no problem.

Final Thoughts

While turtles don’t feel as many feelings as we do, the ones that we have in common are extremely similar, so it’s not hard to know if your turtle feels bored, depressed, scared, or happy.

I hope this article told you everything that you wanted to know about turtle feeling. But in case you have any unanswered questions you can always leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.