Do turtles like music?

Do turtles like music? Everything there is to know about musical stimuli for our pets 

More and more people believe that thanks to music their little pets tend to grow quicker, are healthier, and at the same time feel happier than in the situation where no music is played at all. Although there is no scientific confirmation of such phenomenon, a huge majority of owners acknowledged the fact that thanks to specific types of music their turtles really felt better and had a better growth progress than before. 

This might be a coincidence, but if numerous pet owners report such a situation, the likelihood of it being just a lucky guess drops significantly. And now the real question arises – do turtles really like music? The simple question to this answer is yes, turtles like music. However, there is more to add about that topic and this is what I am going to do in this article.

Let’s talk science

Although I am not a PhD and I haven’t studied any specialization connected to the subject, I spent dozens of hours browsing through the Internet, reading the scientific journals and learning as much as I can just to understand whether music affects turtles in a positive way. The reason was to determine whether my Melman needs some additional stimuli that will facilitate his development and ensure the appropriate growth.

Obviously, the first thing to do was to find legitimate sources that will show me whether music really helps. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any scientific thesis regarding this subject. No wonder, for many it is just an idea that isn’t mandatory for our turtles. Needless to say I was quite shocked when I noticed a number of different statements from people all over the world and, even, vendors and turtle specialists, who said some quite interesting things. 

Can turtles perceive and understand music?

Did you know that turtles are great at recognizing different frequencies of sounds?=> lok at our article about how do turtles hear. Though they do not understand music like we do – lyrics are not important, nor is the pace of the song. However, they are more likely to enjoy classical music rather than titles prepared by metal or rap bands. Why is that? Because of frequencies. You see, turtles use their hearing to catch the steps of potential predators. However, their sense of sound is not as well developed as in the case of human beings or even other animals. 

From the youngest years all humans are exposed to a number of different tunes, soundtracks, and sounds of different kinds. As a result, we associate certain music with particular things and activities. And although pet turtles are not exposed to music to such a large degree as human beings, they still can react to some types of sounds in a certain way. Turtles do not have the eardrum or tympanum. As a result, they may not be able to distinguish many different sounds, but they do very well in picking up lower and deeper sound frequencies or vibrations.

Any genres they enjoy in particular?

Unlike humans, turtles do not feel attached to a particular type of genre. It is mainly because they are not as heavily impacted by music as people. They do not feel nostalgic while listening to a selected performer. As a result, we do not have to stick to one singer. Nonetheless, there are some types of music that work better with most turtles. 

Classical music as its finest

When we were to describe a rock concert and a classical music concert, we would definitely use different words. One is energetic, the other is calm. The former is loud, volatile and ecstatic, whereas the latter is relaxed, chilled, and smooth. The same way, to a certain degree, animals feel about music. It means that if we play a song composed by a well-known, renowned composer, then your pet turtle will surely feel calm. 

It is obvious to say that our pets do not feel nostalgic about music. Nor do they understand the lyrics or know the background of a selected composition. It is more about the frequency of sounds and the vibrations. As a result, songs that represent the traditional Western Classical Music genre are great mainly due to the large chunk of titles composed in such a way. 

Alternatives for classical music

Sometimes we are not in the mood for Beethoven or Vivaldi. And it is completely understandable. We do not have to be keen on such a type of sounds, so it is perfectly normal to look for alternatives. And to be honest, Melman and probably most of other turtles will find modern music not too bad provided they remain calm, relaxed, and do not introduce any energetic novelties that other genres tend to introduce.

In this way we can extend the turtle soundtrack by a lot of different options. It includes chillstep remixes provided they are of a calmer nature. Interestingly, we can also look for modern takes on classical music, which is basically a number of covers and inspirations of something that was popular in the Mozart era.

Nature is always a good idea, but with few exceptions

One of the best ways to provide turtles with a happy sound in the background is to look for compilations of sounds from their natural habitat. Obviously, sometimes it is quite difficult because we have to make sure that there are no sounds of birds or other predators that could be a danger for your turtle. The sound of waterfall, rain, a rustle of leaves and grass – all these sounds may bring your turtle into a good mood. 

However, we should remember that sometimes these nature mixes contain sound effects that can remind turtles about dangers out there. What is more, there is even a possibility to make your turtle confused if you find nature sounds with crickets and other smaller insects or bugs that usually turtles like to eat in the wild. What is more, afore-mentioned birds, snakes (do snakes eat turtles easily check out!), even lizards or crabs are keen on turtle’s meat, so finding natures with these sounds is a really dangerous and irresponsible thing to do. 

Definitely avoid energetic genres

By that we mean metal, rock, or hip hop. Even pop and other options that are nowadays popular should be avoided as long as they are filled with a lot of bass and dynamic sound effects. It can cause turtles to feel stressed out and anxious. This may, in turn, lead to unpredictable behavior.

What are the best ways to help my turtle like music?

One of the best things you can do in order to help your turtle become acquainted and enjoy music is to play the sounds you pick from the very beginning. So, in that way you can get a turtle used to these sounds and make it feel safe around them. In this way young hatchlings tend to acknowledge other sounds that could be irritable for them like, for example, barking dogs, other animals in the house, shouting kids, and such.

It stands to reason that playing music from the very beginning will have the same effect. Your pet will simply understand that the sounds it hears are okay and, if you want, you can even try to teach it that the moment the music is played, the feeding time is coming. There are people who managed to teach that to your turtle. Obviously, at the very beginning you should always play the music at a low volume and with low frequency sounds. In that way, your turtle will come around and get to know these tunes, understanding that they mean no harm.

Will my turtle like music?

It is surely a very difficult thing to answer, because turtles do not comprehend music the same way humans do. However, smooth and relaxed sounds are definitely something we should take into account if we wish to introduce some type of methodology to increase the happiness of our pet. Even if there aren’t many legitimate scientific sources that claim that, numerous opinions say this is definitely something that won’t bring any dangers to your turtle.