General Care Discussion :: dont click HERE, actually complicating question.

[turtle man]

note:my turts are about 6 months old,I bought them from chinatown, see signature

hunter is a very healthy turtle who spends alot of his day on the floating dock, my croc (um.. yeah) great hunting skills, smart,

hesitates to eat poop (unlike fat sleepy, who goes racing, the second it comes out),

problem though, when I hold him ,he sometimes makes growling noises and he opens up his mouth partially/fully/slightly and bites anything that he sees, especially my finger,

the only thing he wont bite is sleepy, thats because he fell love in with her a few weeks ago, now they spend their time having staring contests,sleepy always loses, they move their eyes up and down keeping eye contact, but as soon as hunter starts doing the vibrating thing, she swims away, she tends to take things SLOW, especially relationships.

and hunter has NO dots on his plastron, really plain and boring.

oh and if your interested, you can console me on the death of jorgy.., he was some chiller..., on his last few weeks he could only eat mushy foods..., he died in his bed at a few months old, when I left for about a month, I didnt even get to bury him in my backyard.... now he chillin, down the toilet... no, seriously, its actually taking its toll on me.

Final question: SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT ANY OF THIS?

[jozzep]

Yeah....could be aggression.If you find one with a welt on the top of it's neck....you'll need to separate them.

[turtle man]

I know I didnt make it so clear above, so here are my two questions:
1)hunter makes growling noises,opens his mouth and bites EVERYTHING in front of him (besides, sleepy who hes very fond of),EVERY TIME I HOLD HIM, IS THAT NORMAL AND WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP IT?

2)hunter has ZERO dots, just a slightly browned plastron. IS THAT NORMAL?
p.s hunter definetly gets enough basking time.

[Turtle Mummy 101]

Turtle Man: The "growling" noises your referring to is the hissing turtles make when they are scared/stressed. It's just his way of showing you that he's uncomfortable being held - some turtles are just like that. As for the biting, there's no way to stop it. Biting/going into their shell is a turtle's instinctual way of protection. If they feel threatened in any way you can expect them to do this.

Hunter's plastron pattern is normal. Every turtle has different patterns and colouring. As long as he gets a varied diet, calcium, and a proper basking setup (heat lamp and UVB bulbs) he'll be fine.

My turtle does the "vibrating" thing as well. She has no tank mates except minnows but she does this with me (she swims at the glass and puts her arms above her head). I don't know why she does it, its almost as if she's trying to swim to me or something. So maybe someone else can enlighten us on this type of behaviour.

It seems as if both your turtles are happy and healthy. Remember though, each turtle has a different personality. Just because one turtle is calm and friendly, dosen't mean the other one will be.

[turtle man]

thanks mummy, I could enlighten you about the "vibrating", its the turtles way of starting/showing, he wants to mate, so lol, you must be pretty close to your turtle.
private p.s to marisa: if a turtle is so desperate to mate, that he tries to mate with a human finger, doesnt that prove that they crave social life?

[marisa]

All it says to me is that there is something about the finger that the turtle finds either interesting or perhaps irritating.

Fluttering/vibrating does not always mean that a turtle wants to mate---it can also be dominating behavior. Males will do it to females, males can do it to other males (I have had to separate males because of this behavior which escalated into agression), females can do it to males and other females as well.

Even if it were for mating purposes, I don't equate mating with wanting a social life. Other than mating, turtles don't hang around with others just for the fun of it (Yeah, I know some people say their turtles are friends, but I'm sorry, I don't believe it.)

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

The growling is the turtle hissing when he sees your finger, My turtle rarely does that anymore and only when someone "new" comes towards him.
Like Marisa said the vibrating is normal and just a dominant/mating thing.
I agree with Marisa turtles don't have a social life they can live as happy and long alone as with another turtle.

[turtle man]

The growling is the turtle hissing when he sees your finger, My turtle rarely does that anymore and only when someone "new" comes towards him.
Like Marisa said the vibrating is normal and just a dominant/mating thing.
I agree with Marisa turtles don't have a social life they can live as happy and long alone as with another turtle.

ok, I still uphold my opinion... a) thats how mother nature does it. b) mating probably does your turtle some good.

and ranger, my turtle LOVES my finger, he knows thats what feeds hims, and only bites it if hes to hungry to realize what it is.
I'm talking about when I HOLD my turtle, he gets so restless, that he starts squirming, in my light grip, and biting, but I guess thats normal, has anyone else had that? ( I'm making a new topic, labeled "can a turtle have ADHD")

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

They are trying to get out of your hands when they start to move like they are running away.
And I don't think mating makes your turtle any different.