General Care Discussion :: Medical Question About My Turtle (red eared slider)

[David]

Hi my name is David and I have two red eared sliders I'm having the following medical problems. The tail of one of the turtles is sowllen and the turtle shakes it's front arms aggressively I'm not sure but it look likes it's trying to attack the other turtle. could someone give me an idea of what is going on

[DavidY]

It sounds like a male either trying to court a female or else he's engaging in a territorial dispute. If he is actually trying to bite the other turtle you will need to separate them.

[SpotsMama]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum!

Your question is a good one but it's really in the wrong place. If you'll put questions like this in the General Care section you'll be more likely to get replies. What you should post here ("Hi! Introduce Yourself Here") is info about yourself and your turtle like - how long have you had him/her? What's his/her name? how did you get him/her? We're very interested in people and their turtles!

Now to your specific question. I agree with DavidY - it's probably just normal male turtle behavior. That business of shaking the front toenails is either part of a mating ritual or aggression. Sometimes females do it too. It's interesting, isn't it.

When a male turtle matures his tail gets a lot longer and thicker. Does your turtle's tail look something like this? If it does, it's normal:

[marisa]

Welcome. You'd get a greater response if you posted your questions in a more appropriate forum, like General Care Discussion.

[Jet]

Lol looking at the picture of the tail I'm beginning to think my turtle is actually a girl!
It is much shorter and thicker than what I'm seeing in the picture.