1. I currently have 2 RES in my tank. I have seen some wierd behavior out of them recently. They will face each other and rapidly shake thier legs at one another. Can anybody tell me why they do this? They do not seem to be harming each other when they do this.
2. Also I was wondering if I got a third turtle, which is larger than the two I currently have, (they are 7-8 inches, the one I want is around 10-11), will it harm them. Or if I get a smaller turlte will they harm it. I have a VERY large aqaurium (don't know exact gal. because it is specially designed.)
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2 Turtle questions.
bassturtle
Nov 15, 2003 11:05 PM
Replies (2)
Peyman
Nov 15, 2003 11:35 PM
When they clutter their legs like that its called "the mating dance"...its a way they like to mate....as far as putting another turtle in there...im sure if its just 1-2" in difference it couldnt harm them...i know plently of people though who have small babies w/ bigger turtles and they dont really harm them, sometimes the bigger ones try to act dominant though...so u gotta make sure to little one gets the same amount of food etc..
honuman
Nov 19, 2003 05:36 PM
This is their mating dance. Likely you have two males displaying for eachother here. Do they both have fairly long front claws?
If you have two boys and are introducing a 10-11 inch turtle to them it IS a female (males don't usually get that large). You could really upset the apple cart by doing this. Both males will try and mate with the female and could very likely stress her by constantly being on her. Also they could start fighting each other to mate with her. You would need more than one girl and then there is the issue of space when housing that many fairly large turtles together. The boys are getting on just fine with eachother now so I would leave things alone unless you are prepared to invest the $$ time and space to create a larger habitat to house several turtles.
If you are willing to do this we have plenty of Sliders at Turtlehomes available FREE of charge. All you need to do is to get your proper environment set up, take a photo of it, go to turtlehomes.org and fill out an adoption application. Then mail it along with the enclosure photo to the mailing address listed on site and you will be notified if you are an accepted adopter. You will not even have to pay shipping charges on the animal.
Steve
