Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 red eared sliders and one of them recently did something that worried me. I was watching them feed and it looked like one of them was trying to poop. It pushed and a dark brown thing (the color of it's usual poop) about 1/2 inch in diameter and an inch long came out and then sucked back in. I was worried so I looked this up on the internet and found that something called intestinal prolapse is common with turtles. The pictures of the prolapse I found were a peachy skin color so I'm not sure if this is my problem. I removed my res from the tank into a warm water bath as suggested and she pooped 3 times so she doesn't seem to have any gut blockage. However this weird thing did happen again. I am changing her diet to see if that will help, but I am still a little worried. Other that that both seem healthy... no shell problems, very active, eating well. They will be one year old in September.
I was told when I adopted my res that they were female. However... I understand that nothing is guaranteed. I have seen them swimming around face to face kinda waving their front claws at each other. Is that being territorial and fighting or is it a courting thing? If it is courtship does that mean that I have a male and a female or could it be possible that I have 2 confused females??
sorry for the long post but it is my first and i have a lot of questions... thank you

LOL, your turtle is a male! That black think is his penis, and that behavior is called fanning. It is completely normal and healthy for him to do that, just make sure the other turtle doesn't bite at it.
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Can it be his penis even though they are just under a year old?

How big is he?
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He is about 3.5 to 4 inches. I've been looking around for info on the mating rituals and I'm a little confused. All of the info I have found says that the male will try to get the female's attention by stroking her face and twitching his front claws. Both of my turtles do this to each other... when one starts it the other one joins in. Do I have 2 males or does the female usually do this back to the male?? Should I be able to tell at a year if they are male or female?? I might have to rename my babies!!! Bella and Mia are not your every day boys names!!

They may be under a year, but there size is closer to what they should be at 4 years old, so your male has just matured fast, due to overfeeding. My two males do the mating ritual to each other, and I have heard that single turtles will do the mating ritual to virtually any inaminate object, so they aren't picky. Look at your turtle's nails, if they are very long you have two males. If one has long nails and one short stubby nails you have a male and female. Also, males have longer tails.
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if that turtles tail is fat and longish, that is a guy. that to me sounds like his anatomy making an apperance..it sucked right back in, i wouldn't worry