Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had two RES for a little bit now. They are both about 2 inches long. One is a little over and one is a litle under. I bought two more RES one a little over an inch and one a little under. The largest of the two new ones immediately started following the two big ones and doing everything they did. The big ones accepted him. They seem to pick on him a little bit but arnt mean to him, they sunbathe together. Now the smallest of the new ones is a totatly different story. He constantly is in the dry area, he doesnt swim. he hardly eats. He just lays in the basking area with his eyes closed all the time. When i take him out he is responsive and kicks his feet. He doesnt act physcially hurt. but when i put him back in the cage he doesnt move unless a bigger one pushes him or kicks him or sits on him. He is really sad looking. Is it just the change in enviroment and cuz hes smaller its taking him longer to adjust or are the big ones bullying him? should i take him out and try to raise him serparatly. The cage is way big for all four of them. its at least 3 ft long and 1.5 high. the temp is great in there my first two have been doing great. another hting i noticed after i added them the two big ones never fought be for but now the smallest of the big ones bites the big ones back legs. And the smallest of the big ones and the active new one eats alot and the bigest big one wont eat at all. is this some kind of pecking order between the sizes and the sexes? please let me know what to do...i love my turtles so much.

I got a yellow belly baby a few months ago and put him in with other babies and he did the same thing. I was worried for him and put him in a small seperate tank, but he still acted the same way when he was alone. I watched him to make sure that he was eating, and he was - but that was the only time I would see him get off of the sunbasking area. After a few days/weeks I realized he was fine and put him back with the other babies. He still acted this way for a few weeks, but eventually he grew out of it. He seemed completely fine and started playing like the others after awhile - but I'm not really sure what it was about. I don't want to say 'oh, he will grow out of it' like mine did, because I'm not really sure why they were acting that way in the first place and I don't want to tell you the wrong thing. How long has he been acting this way?

Well i got him like 3 days ago.....so for three days..another thing is they all sleep in the basking area together but when the others wake up they go swim ad e stays up there with i pick him up his shell is really warm but he continues to stay in the light....they said he knew how to control his own body temp...but he was rally really warm..i eased him into shallow water and he swam aroudn like he was fine and went back to his basking area...strange huh? well im glad to know im not the only one. thanks..bye

He could have a respritory infection, sick turtles will stay on the basking area because they don't have the energy to swim, and they try to stay warm. I would separate him, just in case he is sick you don't want the other ones to get it. You should always quarentine new animals for several months instead of just putting them together.
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Also from the size of your tank it sounds like a 20 long. Is it? This is fine for a couple babies but they will soon grow out of this tank and need more room. Do you have a big pond or you can move them to when they get bigger? Maybe they are biting at eachother and not eating because of a space issue. 4 turtles in a 20 long is kinda cramped. They should be in 10 gals per inch. So they should be in at least 60 gals of water right now.