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Hi. My two RES (Turtle1 and Turtle2) have been looking each other straight in the face for about 5 minutes at a time. Yesterday they started putting their arms out at each other. Is this a mating "call" or something. If it is can a Turtle be too small to lay eggs but still do their business

The mating rituals goes about like this.

Boy gets face to face with girl. Flutters his claws in front of his face.

Girl turns around. boy gets on top and holds her shell with all for legs.

Female swims back. male lets go with front legs and becomes near vertical.

They should stay that way for about 15 min.

I've been told that if the turt is less than 5in it is too small to lay eggs. I don't know if they still make whoopee for fun.

The hands in front of face can also be a sign of aggression. How big are they? and how big is the enclosure?

My female turtle is about 3.4 in and my male is about 3.6 in. Both of them do the claw shaking thingy. It is probably aggresive behavior. It's Hilarious to watch but a soon as they get too rough i separate them. My male always runs away when my female does it back. I got my female turtle from a neighbor and she is always acting like she has eggs to lay (trying to get out of her tank, digging, restless at night).

They're too small to be sexually mature. It's most likely a display of dominance. How big is the tank they're in? If it's overly small for their size, it can increase the chances for dominance/aggression (they are territorial).

My turtles are in a 125gal tank. They go up to each other only when there is nobody in the room so i sneak up on them.