Why Is My Turtle Hiding Under Rocks? The Real Answer

Turtles can be quite curious creatures. There are a lot of things that can cause strange behaviors, like hiding under rocks. And if you are a new turtle owner strange behavior like this can leave you quite clueless about what you should do. Fortunately for you in this article, I will cover every possible reason why your turtle is hiding under rocks.

Why is my turtle hiding under rocks? Turtles usually display strange behavior like hiding under rocks due to various reasons like:

Bullying
Pregnancy
Scared
Stressed
Bad Diet
Bad Temperature
Instinct

So this is the list with the most common reasons, now let’s take a closer look at each item on the list and find out how to solve the problem.

Bullying

If you have two or more turtles, one of them might bully the other turtle, this is quite common behavior between turtles. So one of them hiding under rocks to avoid the other can be quite normal.

Turtles group behavior can be quite strange and interesting, if you want to know more about turtle social behavior you should check out this article.

To solve this you simply have to move one of the turtles to another tank. Unfortunately, there is no way to make turtles behave nicer with each other, it’s in their nature to be aggressive toward other turtles.

Pregnancy

A pregnant turtle will act very strange, she will stop eating, she will stop basking, she will try to kick things with her legs, she will hide under rocks, etc.

This can be quite common behavior for pregnant turtles. Like most pregnant animals, turtles feel very vulnerable during this time, so they will try to hide just in case any predator is nearby. Even if your pet turtle has never seen a predator, it’s just in their instinct to do this.

If your turtle is pregnant there is nothing that you can do to make her stop acting strange. You just have to wait and take care of her like you usually do, even if she is not very cooperative.

The first thing you have to do if you want to know if your turtle is really pregnant is to find out if it’s a male or a female. To find out you should read this article that is going to tell you if that’s the case: How to Tell If Your Turtle Is Male or Female.

And if your turtle is a female, and you want to know if she is pregnant, then you should read this article where you will find all the info you need: How to Tell if Your Turtle Is Pregnant.

One important thing about turtles is that they can get pregnant even if there is no male around. The difference is that the eggs won’t be fertilized so no baby will come out of them. So even if you only have a female turtle she can still lay eggs.

Scared

If your turtle just arrived in its new home then it’s completely normal for it to act strangely. When turtles arrive in a new area they will be very scared. Most turtles are kept in a small tank or container with other turtles until they are sold. Taking them from a small and crowded place and moving them into a spacious tank where there is no other turtle can be quite scary.

In this situation, there is nothing that you can do except to take care of your turtle as you would normally do. Your turtle will need a few days, sometimes even a couple of weeks to get used to the new place. After that, they should stop hiding, and start exploring new environments.

Stressed

Surprisingly turtles are very easily affected by stress. A stressed-out turtle can exhibit all kinds of strange behaviors, and hiding under rocks is one of them.

Here are a few things that can stress a turtle:

Loud speakers that are placed right next to the tank
A cat or a dog that is always trying to get into the tank
Improper handling
Too frequent interactions
Etc.

If something is able to stress out most people, then it can also easily stress out a turtle.

To solve this problem you simply have to remove the stress source. Usually, this can be solved by moving the tank to another room that is less frequented by other people. But how to solve this problem really depends on the thing that is stressing your turtle. So basically you just have to remove that stress factor, and soon your turtle will soon start to act normal again.

Bad Diet

Another reason why your turtle is kicking its back legs could be due to a poor diet. If turtles don’t have a proper diet they will feel vulnerable, so they will want to hide.

This doesn’t necessarily happen because you don’t give your turtle food, but it can happen because you don’t give your turtle the right food.

A proper diet will contain a mix of live prey, meat, pellets, fruits, and vegetables. If you are only giving your turtle pellets, then that’s a problem. But fortunately, it’s easy to solve.

To solve this problem you just have to start giving your turtle other types of food, besides pellets.

At this point I would recommend you to read this article: What do Turtles Eat ? it contains a lot of information about what turtles eat, what they should eat, and a lot more. On this site, we also have articles on how much and how often a turtle should eat, or what kind of fruits and vegetables, based on the species of the turtle. To find those articles just check out the Care Guides section of the site.

Bad Temperature

Bad Water Temperature

Turtles are cold-blooded animals, this means that they don’t produce any body heat, so they rely on the surrounding temperature to warm their bodies.

If the temperature of the water is not warm enough, your turtle will start to exhibit strange behavior. Solving this problem is really easy, just adjust the water temperature.

The exact water temperature varies from species to species. But in general, it’s between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 24 and 27 degrees Celsius ). If you keep the water temperature between 75 and 80 degrees, then your turtle will stop all of its strange behaviors and go back to normal.

If you don’t own a tank heater, or you want to get a new one I suggest you check out the Recommended Gear Page, where you will find some of the best turtle care products, which were tested by me and the rest of the turtleowner.com team.

Bad Basking Area Temperature

The basking area is where turtles get most of the heat for their bodies, as well as the UVB rays that are essential for them.

If the temperature of the basking area is too low or too high, your turtle will also start to exhibit strange behavior. But don’t worry, this problem is easy to fix. You just have to make a few changes to the basking area, so that it produces just the right amount of heat.

Depending on the turtle species that you have, the basking area temperature will also differ. But if the temperature is between 85 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit ( 29 and 32 degrees Celsius ), your turtle will be just fine.

If you want to know more about heating and lighting for turtles, check out this article where you will find a complete guide: Guide for Lighting and Heating a Turtle Tank and Basking Area.

Instinct

The final item on this list is instinct. I decided to let this one be the last because this one is the most uncontrollable, and you can’t do anything to make your turtle stop.

In the wild turtles have a lot of predators, and as a result, they are very cautious, they hide a lot, they try to camouflage, etc.

Even if your pet turtle wasn’t born in the wild it will still have these instincts.

So if this is the case I can’t really guarantee that your turtle will stop hiding under rocks too soon. Since every turtle has its own personality, your turtle might just be the more cautious type, so it might take a lot longer until it will stop doing this.

So the only thing that you can do is to wait, but unlike other cases, this can sometimes take a long time.

Conclusion

So those are the most common reasons why your turtle is hiding under rocks. Most of them are quite easy to solve, while in the case of others you just have to wait.

I hope this article helped you and your turtle. If you have any questions left, or if there is any way in which I can help you and your turtle, please tell me in the comment section and I will do my best to answer you as soon as possible.