Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have 2 questions
1. my male is putting his claws infront of my females and vibrating them very fast. im pretty sure this is the matting dance. the female is not accepting him and keeps swimming away its a 150 gallon tank, i think, well its big, so they have plenty of room but he keeps following her around and doing this. she will nip at his claws i guess saying i dont want to mate with you. still he continues to do this. he has done it before about a week ago. should i take the male out and put him in another tank? oh and he is also swimming around really fast up and down and around the sides.
2. i bought a female slider from a petshop maybe 3 or 4 months ago and has never been able to float. i took her to the vet and she isn't sick. he said it was the best turtle he as seen. i raised the tank depth to a foot now from 6 inches. i dont want her to die because she cant get up for air. my other two that i got from a breeder that was selling off his sliders float fine and were alittle to fat but thats taken care of. the one that doesn't float isnt fat at all. i dont know what to do. will she learn to float or what? all the turtles about 6 inches.

thanks
nathan

Well your male turtle is definitely doing the mating dance. We had a male and female in our large outdoor pond and he started out the same way. Unfortunately he became really rough with her. I was told that the male will bite the female around the neck at times, but he really tore her up! She started hiding out in our bog under the mud and wasn’t getting out to bask. We ended up having to return the male (to the nature center we adopted him from) and switched him for another female. As for your turtle having difficulty floating… I’m afraid I don’t have an answer that question. I’m sure someone else will though!
Good luck!

i think they might have mated because he isn't bothering her anymore. well have to wait and see. my other turtle that wouldn't float seems to be floating some now. she still crawls on the bottom.
nathan