With both turtles and tortoises seeing a spike in their popularity as pets over the last year or so, we have noticed more and more people reaching out with a range of different questions relating to the two pets.
Although turtles and tortoises are not the same type of animal, they do have a number of similarities with many questions we see asked by the community actually applying to both of them.
One of the more commonly asked questions that we have noticed asked time and time again in recent months is do turtles snore.
We can definitely see how this has taken some people’s curiosity and we understand why so many people have been reaching out and asking about this too.
Due to so many people reaching out to ask if turtles snore or not, we have decided to publish this dedicated article on the subject.
We actually get a few similar questions relating to if turtles snore or not so we have decided to add a table of contents to our article below.
Clicking any of the sub-sections of the article in the table of contents below will quickly and easily allow you to just to specific sections of the article to meet your needs quickly without having to scroll the whole article.
Do Turtles Snore?
Although turtles can snore in the sense that they make a loud noise when exhaling while sleeping, they don’t make the same sounds as humans.
The sound a turtle makes when snoring is more like a hiss and whistle sound mixed together. Many people who are new to keeping pet turtles instantly think that there is something wrong with their turtle when they make this snoring sound but it is totally normal.
If you are convinced that the sound that your pet turtle is making is a problem then you are able to quickly and easily book a video call with an online vet to have them listen to your turtle snoring and put your mind at ease.
This tends to be much cheaper than your local vet while also being easier as you are able to video call with the vet while your pet turtle is making the sounds that you are worried about.
We can definitely understand why so many people worry about the sounds that their pet turtle makes when sleeping due to it being such a unique sound.
This is partly due to turtles being conscious breathers as well as most turtles also having the ability to breathe through their butts, especially during hibernation resulting in some pretty unique sounds.
Why Is My Turtle Snoring?
Turtles snore for the same reasons as humans and it rarely means that there is an issue with your turtle.
It is often due to the turtle not being in the ideal position to sleep while breathing without restriction resulting in some additional effort being required to breathe meaning that they will usually snore for extended periods of time.
It is also common for turtles to snore during hibernation too and this can also be totally normal and nothing to worry about.
It is usually not recommended that you wake your pet turtle to adjust its position when hibernating or sleeping to try and stop them snoring either and just let them stay in the position that they chose.
In a small number of situations, your pet turtle may be snoring due to an infection or other respiratory problem and everyone’s mind always jumps to this being the issue due to the sound of a turtle snoring being so unique.
This really is a very small number of cases but if you are worried, you can book an online video call with a vet to listen to your turtle and offer you feedback and their professional diagnosis to put your mind at rest.
How Do You Tell If A Turtle Is Sleeping?
It is generally easy to tell if your pet turtle is sleeping but you have to keep in mind that during brumation turtles really don’t breathe as much as they normally would leading many people new to keeping turtles to question if their pet has died.
When sleeping, turtles are motionless and will sometimes snore making a whistling or hissing sound letting you know that they are just sleeping.
Many people new to keeping pet turtles end up panicking due to thinking that their pets have died and this is normal until you build up the experience required to be able to tell if your turtle is just sleeping or not.
Unfortunately, unlike many other pets, turtles really offer little in the way of letting you know if they are just sleeping or not.
Their shell prevents you from being able to tell if they are breathing by looking for their lungs to increase when inhaling so listening for signs of your turtle snoring is one of the best options available.
Taking note of exactly where your pet turtle is in its enclosure is a good thing to do too as turtles may wake up for an hour or two, move around slightly and then fall back to sleep.
In the age of smartphones, it is easy to snap a photograph of your turtle sleeping to compare its location so you are able to tell if it has been moving around or not.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if turtles snore to an end. We hope that you have found our article helpful and that we have been able to help put your mind at ease when it comes to the sounds your pet turtle makes when snoring. We know that they are very unique sounds and far from what most people initially expect so it does often raise concerns in anyone who keeps pet turtles when hearing them for the first time but it is generally nothing to worry about.
