Do turtles snore?

Snoring is quite a normal phenomenon in the surrounding world. People snore, dogs snore, and even some other animals snore as well. Nevertheless, it is difficult to observe certain behaviors if your pet is significantly slower. As a result, not everyone realizes that even turtles can snore. This happens only during standard sleep, and not while in hibernation. More about that later on.

Why would I even know about that? Well, some time ago my own turtle had trouble with breathing. You see, he had a respiratory infection and, as a result, he was having a very difficult time. As a result, I took him to a vet. There, I realized that if not for hissing and visible changes to my turtle’s body, this RI would be very similar to typical snoring. Hence I decided to take some of my free time and browse the Internet in search for legitimate, verified information regarding turtles and snoring.

How come turtles can snore?

Similarly to many other animals, these reptiles have special soft tissue in their cheeks. As a result, when they inhale air through them and then exhale it, the air flows may cause vibrations, which manifest in a sound that we all know as snoring. Obviously, in some cases this sound can be much more audible than in others. 

Usually, larger turtles are capable of producing much clearer sounds due to their size, larger amounts of air they inhale and then exhale, and also as a result of larger quantities of soft tissues in their cheeks. It doesn’t mean; however, that smaller turtles cannot snore. Yes, they can. However, in the case of smaller turtles as well as juveniles, snoring is almost inaudible. 

How do you differentiate snoring from respiratory problems?

Snoring is a perfectly safe phenomenon that concerns not only turtles, but also other animals and even people. That is why we shouldn’t be worried about our reptiles that snore. Nonetheless, we have to remember that sometimes sounds that are similar to snoring may be the consequence of a serious illness. 

Just like in the case of my own pet, some of your turtles may be struggling with respiratory troubles. And this is something we cannot ignore mainly due to the huge troubles that later on our turtle may have. These troubles quite often may result in respiratory infection, which is a significant concern for you and your turtle. 

Respiratory infection symptoms

Luckily for us, there are a large number of symptoms that indicate we are dealing with something much more serious than just snoring. Here is a list of things we should be careful about:

Whistling or crying

If your turtle makes sounds that are less like human or dog snoring, and more like whistling or even crying, then this is the first symptom that something is wrong. Usually, it means that pet turtles struggle to catch their breath.

White films 

Another thing that may indicate troubles with breathing as well as many other issues is the white film around the eyes of your turtles. Though sometimes it is completely normal, since turtles produce natural discharge in order to keep their eyes moist and clean, in other cases it may be the reason of eye infection, eye tear, or the most common problem of them all, respiratory illness.

Nasal discharge

Another way of determining whether your turtle is sick is looking at nasal discharge. This, combined with lack of appetite and lethargy, may indicate that you are dealing with a respiratory problem, and not a typical snoring. 

Lack of movement

Usually, turtles are not very interested in dynamic and very active movement. Nevertheless, if they move a lot less than usual, then it is another indication that something is wrong.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of different symptoms that may indicate serious troubles related to the health condition of our turtle. However, snoring itself should not be considered as dangerous nor should it be treated. Obviously, trying to hear how our pet snores is not the greatest idea. Mainly because we will only spook the animal and make it stress out unnecessarily. 

Will fat turtles snore more often?

To be honest, obesity is quite often linked with snoring. However, most research studies concerned people and larger animals. As a result, it is unclear, at least from the scientific point of view, whether turtles with obesity and problems with being overweight snore more often than the others. 

Snoring and hibernation – is it possible?

During winter days, turtles tend to hibernate. Obviously, it isn’t truly a hibernation as in the case of many different animals that hibernate. Nonetheless, we need to bear in mind that turtles rely on energy that they stored as well as other sources like, for example, uptake oxygen that is in the pond water. However, will they snore during hibernation? No, turtles do not snore while hibernating.

You see, the hibernation process requires a different breathing technique. Instead of using their lungs and breathing the air through their cheeks, they use… butt. Or to be more precise, they apply the so-called cloacal respiration. It means that they breathe through their excretory organ, making it impossible for the snoring effect to occur – mainly because no cheeks and soft tissue located in their mouths is involved.

When do turtles like to snore the most?

The most obvious time for turtles to snore is at night. Then, they most likely fall asleep and enjoy a long rest. They may even dream as well! Yes, though it has not been proven, it is possible for turtles to have dreams mainly because of the fact that just like in many other animals, they also have a RED sleep phase. 

Interestingly, turtles rarely snore during the day for a very simple reason – they do not sleep then. Though it seems like turtles do nothing but sleep, the reality is a bit different. These reptiles just love basking and resting, but they scarcely ever sleep during the day time.

Just like other animals and even human beings, turtles have their own sleep cycle. Due to the fact that they are diurnal, namely they are active during the daytime, they sleep only at night. The sleep itself does not last long, because it lasts from 4 to 7 hours.

Are there any other sounds that turtles tend to make?

Yes, and there are quite a lot of different ones. You see, they tend to squak, yelp, and even roar! Besides that, we are capable of hearing chirping and even some sounds that can be interpreted as dissatisfaction of our pet turtle. Surely when a turtle hisses, it means no good for a person that is in contact with an animal.

Do turtles snore? Now you know!

Snoring is perfectly normal not only for people, but also animals. Just like many other species, snoring concerns turtles just as well. Obviously, we have to bear in mind that sometimes we are dealing with something more serious than just snoring – respiratory infections can be quite dangerous, and they definitely cause a lot of inconvenience for turtles and their owners.

Nonetheless, if there are no suspicious symptoms and we did not notice any changes in the turtle’s behavior, then snoring is definitely something normal that should not surprise us. Obviously, hearing your turtle snores is not as easy as it may seem, because they usually sleep only at nights and only for 4-7 hours.