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[cribeiro]

Although the male was a little bit a pain in the rear for the girls (especially the big ones) they seem to tolerate him and his “affection”.

But one day, as I was taking care of the garden, I noticed that he was walking around and far from the pound. They never leave the premises of the water and that behavior was very odd.

As I approached him I’ve notice that there was something coming out of the cloaca. At first I thought it was he’s intestinal organs, but by the look of it I quickly understood that it was his penis.

The male was put in quarantine and got an appointment with the vet.

He was kept there for some time (don’t recall precisely how long) and I got a call from the vet with a question: Your turtle suffers from penile prolapse, probably from a bite or injury and the only action to take now is surgically remove it! Would you like us to proceed with the surgery?

After some reassurance that it was not that dangerous I agreed.

His recover took a while and during that period he was kept alone in an aquarium with shallow water. (because it was during my vacations, he even got to travel with me - so I could keep him under surveillance)

As soon as he recovered he was back with the ladies. At the time I was a bit reluctant to keep them together but getting another pound wasn’t an option and I never seen them fighting or behaving violently towards one another, so I gave it another shot.

Present day – Although I would have liked to keep him with me, it was best to take him apart from the females, so he’s living in my sister’s backyard, with a pound all to himself.

Note: I have had RES for more than 15 years and I never witness any fighting or had to treat anyone of them because of bites perpetrated by another. I don’t know if I’m just lucky but even after introducing the 2 females to the originals and another one from a different owner down the line, they always got along fine.

Next Episode: Another girl!

[SpotsMama]

Oh my gosh - that poor guy! It's marvolous that he took it so well and recovered. Do you think one of the females bit him? That's happened to some other males on here - wondering if you thought that was a rare occurance in your male's case or if you think something else happened.

Most people on this forum think that aggression between RES occurs for several reasons. One is simply the personality of the turtles. We've noticed that some are much more aggressive than others. We think another cause is turtles feeling too cramped for space. Aggression seems to be more common in aquariums than in ponds, for instance, though I recall one other instance where a male was intimidated by a larger female when both lived in a pond. It would be interesting to hear your perspective on the matter since you've had such a lot of experience.

[cribeiro]

I think that, when he was playing around with one of the girls, another one was swimming bellow and thought that “it” was food!

Although there is a piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit in this scenario: when I examined him, I didn’t find bruises or some blood in is penis. It was just some soft tissue that only from its shape would you recognize it for what it was.

By looking through the forum I’ve discovered that this condition has a name and sometimes it’s possible to restore it to health without medical procedures.

As for being or not a rare condition, I don’t know. It only happened once.

RES aggression.

I always had my RES on the outside (March till December) and although the pond wasn’t that big they never got aggressive towards one another.

Because I used to feed them raw meat, sometimes if a turtle didn’t swallow the piece and let it linger a bit outside its mouth, another one would try to steal it. This would create a little fuzz.

Another quarrel would take place if a piece of meat was near a limb and another turtle would rush to it, sometimes biting more than just the raw meat.

Interestingly, after the problem was “swallowed”, the fuzz disappeared immediately, there was never a grudge!

To solve this, I began to feed them directly. At first holding the piece of meat by the opposite side so that they didn’t bite me. After a while – and I still do it with small pieces of carrots or pellets – I began to be able to put my hand very near their mouth. Sometimes they bite but by having my fingers sideways they can’t injury me.

During the winter, the girls would be living in a shower and the boy in an aquarium. The shower was the only way to keep the water clean without having to buy pumps, filters and a large aquarium (although I had to change the water every single day!).

There were four girls in that shower with shallow water and I never saw them get aggressive.

Even when the boy was harassing the big girls in the pond, they only tried to get away from him.

In conclusion, I had RES from 3 different origins put together and never saw aggressive behaviors.
It’s possible that males are more difficult to be kept together, even if there are no females around. I never had two adult males at the same time so that’s something I’m not familiar with.

Side note: Miguel and Sarapica were a little bit different. Miguel would attach himself to Sarapica’s carapace and would try to push her head down. It was very violent and whenever I saw it I would take him apart from her. Sometimes she even got bruises on top of her head.

[SpotsMama]

Interesting. I'm going to keep an eye out and see if anyone reports a female biting another female. Thanks for the info.

[spyder85]

Her coloring is amazing! Such a pretty turtle!

[ivory]

hi I'm new in this forum, reading your story from the very first page till the end of the page it's addictive.

I always curious with what happen to your RES and also sarapica --> she's so adorable.

your RES is so wonderful and it's old...that's the good thing.

it means you took care of them nicely

[cribeiro]

@ ivory & spyder85: thanks

And now, after almost a month, let us return to the story of the RES:

Shortly before moving with my parents to another house I got another offer to take care of a RES. This time it was a female RES that had been injured in the head by other RES or a dog – excuse my weak memory  -.

The wound had already healed but she was a bit lethargic and had no interest in eating.

Patiently I proceed to give her some pellets by hand, on a daily basis. After sometime she began to take then from the water and start behaving normally.

Then I introduced her to the gang. As said in the last episode, they accepted her promptly as one of there own.

Here are a photo of her and a head shot. You can see that the red area is almost nonexistent and the flesh looks strange.

Next Episode: Moving to a nicer place!





A little information:
Age - 12 plus years (estim)
Weight - 0.88 Kg ( 1.94 pounds)
Length (SCL) - 17.5 cm (6.88 in)

[cribeiro]

As noticed to all that look through this thread, I didn’t finish the RES story!
Although free time is still in short supply, I decided to make an effort and close the story.

In the new house (the one with 3 independent zones large enough to be used as habitats) they were put in the same area – along with Sarapica and the male RES.

Some years before, my parents acquire two tiny Mediterranean Turtles that turned out to be two males! Like many species of turtles, they tend to live alone and these two were no exception.
The big one started to “run” after the other one and they had to be separated. Because they’re land turtles they got the larger zone – divided in two.
The smaller zone became down the line, Sarapica’s place (after her accident) and the remaining area became the Sliders zone –also divided in two, girls on the left, boy on the right.

To accomplish this we had to buy another pre-formed pond.

After Sarapica’s accident everything went well for a couple of years.
But one day, one of the big female RES began to “swell”.
It was diagnosed as a severe kidney problem, and after a few days at the vet, she died.

It was most sudden and although I see them almost everyday, it was that kind of illness that doesn’t give you any time to strike back.

And this was the last “traumatic experience” with them. The last five years have been rather peaceful.

The land turtles live in my parent’s house;
The RES male lives in my sister’s house;
The RES and Sarapica live with me!

…And that concludes the story of my RES.

Here are the RES habitat, specially designed by yours truly to give them all the water and sun they need and also a sneak peek at Sarapica’s private garden.





See U all in the forum

[steve]

Great story and pictures, thanks for sharing Cribeiro.

[megcornell]

I don't know how I missed this thread all these months! What a great set of stories, and what marvelous turtles you have.
I am absolutely in love with Sarapica, she's wonderful.

[3littleturtles]

I love her! I can't believe she is 90!

[AnthonyGarcia]

that's a pretty turtle! i would love to get one of those!!! Sarapica!