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The turtle dance is this normal?
Posted:
Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:38 pmby Wild_Cherry13
My res Kona has been doing a weird dance latley I have a few RES right now 2 boys and 1 girl out in an aquarium in the reptile room.The boys have been moving their heads up and down and the girl just looks at them the whole time I think it's so weird and I just don't know if it's normal or not so is it?
-Aloha
Posted:
Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:41 pmby adammaxis
Can you explain it any better? Perhaps someone else can tell you if there is a problem from that, but I cannot.
Please be as detailed as possible.
Posted:
Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:25 pmby marisa
Are they fluttering their paws at each other? If so, this is someting that turtles like RES do. If sexually mature, it's part of the mating ritual. If younger, they sometimes will do it to each other (both sexes) and it could mean they're trying to show each other who's boss.
Posted:
Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:50 amby Wild_Cherry13
O ok well I just saw heads moving up and down and I think I remember claws so probably they were doing a mating ritual.
Posted:
Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:59 pmby marisa
That would depend on old/big they are.
Posted:
Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:10 amby BROOKLYN
I think it varies. The fluttering of the paws could mean aggression, mating, or simply a game. It varies by age, size of the turtles, personality of the turtle(s), and size of the enclosure. You mention that you have 2 males and 1 female. How big is your enclosure? Small enclosures usually lead to aggression in a lot of cases. It can also mean the "mating dance" if it involves the male & female. When males do it, it usually is a territorial thing. In summary, it is normal for turtles to do that but it is your job to figure if it's in a negative or positive way.
I tried introducing Monster who's about 2 inches (1 of my baby res) to Survivor who's about 3-4 times Monster's size (12+ year old male). I didn't put them together in the tank or out of it. This could go bad and I didn't risk it. I just held Monster in my hand and just showed to Survivor who was inside the tank (through the glass). Immediately, Survivor started fluttering his paws. I didn't see Survivor try to snap at Monster through the glass (like he use to do with his self image) but I can tell that Survivor might not have welcome Monster in his tank even for a few minutes.