Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have 3 yellow bellied cooters, 2 female and one male all three a year old. Until recently they have all been getting along great, but a couple days ago i noticed that the one female, the smaller of the two, is now climbing onto the other female and fluttering her two front feet over the other females eyes, it looks like she's clawing at her eyes! her claws are much longer than the other females and i'm afraid its hurting her, but yet the larger female doesn't even try to get away. i've never seen them do this before and i'm not sure if its something to worry about or not. i've taken the one female out of the tank and put her into a separate tank. does this mean that the one is trying to dominate? otherwise, all three of my turtles are healthy and i've had no other problems with them. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

Your female with longer fluttering claws is a male, and is starting to feel amorous.

thanks! i never even thought about the one being a male because of the big difference in size between it and the other male, but it def all makes sense now, thanks!