General Care Discussion :: Fanning??

[Penelope75]

OK so I've seen the pictures and know what the turtles male "organ looks like but I'm not entirely positive this is what my turtle is doing. My question is when they are fanning do they always expose the whole organ or is it sometimes only just a little bit of it?
Penelope(yes he's a boy) had something very dark in color and kinda pointy looking"pop" out but only a little bit of it and then it went right back in and he did this quite a few times.
Was he exposing the tip of his organ or should I be worried?
It REALLY freaked me out!!! I did as much research on it as I could find but found nothing about just the tip coming out...is this normal?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yep, it's not always the whole thing, sometimes just a partial peek. The only time to be concerned is if it's been out for a long time or otherwise appears stuck out, or if it's pink, which means it's not it, but rather an intestine. Sometimes those pop out and that's not a good thing.

If the purple boy part gets stuck out for too long, you can try to coax it back in, otherwise you might need a vet.

[Penelope75]

Thanks!!! I think maybe he doesn't like having a girl's name so he was trying to show me that he's a boy!!! Also I found it kinda strange that he was watching me and doing the fluttering thing with his front feet and then exposed himself...Could he have possibly seen his reflection in the tank and thought there was a female there?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Oh, definitely! They often fan at their reflection, or sometimes each other, or a rock. I think Spotsmama, her turtle has a rock that he's in love with.

[blulite]

haha lmao.. my tumble fans at lydia regularly and she just swims off and leaves him to it. lol. poor guy he must feel so inadequate. never noticed if he flashes his family jewels though.

its funny when he fans at lydia because shes so tiny compared to tumble and he thinks hes going to get some. lol. lydia just looks at him as if to say "yeah right" and then high tails it to the nearest hiding place tumble cant get too.