redearslider.com

Hi this is my first time posting here....We have two red ear slider turtles; we've had them since last March. When we got them they were the size of quarters. Since then they have grown a lot. We have our two babies in a 39 gallon tank with a filter a heater and some bubbles that they like to play with.
We never really named them, we just call them babies. One of them is very mean towards us and tries to hiss and bite. While the other is very gentle and loves to climb when out of the tank. Does any one else have problems with an aggressive turtle? Although they are never mean towards each other. The more aggressive one has grown to be much larger than the nice one and he never seems to get full when we feed him...

Welcome to Turtle Talk! Very cute babies. Thanks for sharing your pictures!

Welcome. Are you feeding the two turtles together? If you are, make sure the shyer one is getting his fair share and not having it taken by the agressive one. (If he is, it would be good to feed them separately.) I'd also be careful about the tank size---make sure it's adequate for the size of your turtles (what are their shell lengths not including the curve?). Aggression is only apt to intensify if their space is too small. (The larger one may get along with the smaller one now, but just be aware this could change in the future.)

That's a very colorful set-up with a lot of objects in it. Do they have a UVB light as well as a heat light to bask under?

The larger turtle is 2-7/8 " and the smaller turtle is 2-3/4" We feed them together. The smaller turtle will stop eating after she has had enough, while the larger one will eat none stop. We had to take a live plant out of the tank because he would not stop eating. We have a heat light for them to bask under and certain times of the day sunlight comes through the window and shines onto the tank, which thr turtles love.

Sunlight is great for them, but not through a window. Although they get the light and warmth, they're not getting any UVB rays because the glass is filtering them out (and UVB rays are essential for your turtles to produce Vit D3, which is necessary to enable your turtles to absorb the calcium in their diet). They need a UVB light along with their heat light (conventional UVB lights are flourescent and don't really produce heat), and they need to be basking under both lights.

Ok, thanks for the advice, we'll make sure to find a UVB light for them, I don't like the light fixture we have anyway.. But does anyone know why one turtle would turn out so mean? They have always both received the same amount of human interaction, never been abused, both came from the same batch at the pet store… We read about other people being able to handle there RES turtles without worrying about being bitten. This one will bite you the second it has a chance . Is it possible my turtle’s gene pools are not as deep as they should be? I’m guessing that must be somewhat of a problem judging by where some of these turtles come from.
Sometimes when the nice turtle gets excited (feeding time or sometimes when we walk into the room) she will paddle her rear feet the wrong way, it looks like her front legs want to go forward, but she reverses her self right into the glass or to the bottom of the tank

The temperment of turtles can vary, with some more mellow and somewhat more receptive to handling than others. With time, some turtles become "tamer" (but not the way dogs and cats do), others never really do.