General Care Discussion :: What is he/she doing?

[d0eb0y]

Ok ive had my turtle now for almost 7 months. I have never seen him do this thing he has been doing all morning ever before. He is still doing it now and im clueless to what it is.

The video doesnt really capture the exact movement of his arms. But when he has his hands up by his head and reaching out toward the rock his hands/arms are basically vibrating really fast. Very weird to me.
Anyone got an idea?

Here is 1 video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeFoq97hXGo

And a 2nd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM8tQKrHUas

Kinda looks like he is praying or something.lol

[SpotsMama]

Isn't that interesting? It's normal RES behavior. They'll do that to another turtle's face. It's part of the mating ritual and also one of the ways a turtle shows aggression to another turtle. In this case, since there are no turtles around, your guy has picked out a rock as a surrogate turtle! Most of them do that. My Spot has a rock that he flirts with all the time. Notice that the rock your guy has chosen is dark and has some striping. Same thing with Spot's rock.

[BullDog]

Welcome to the world of rock-obsessed turtles ^_^
For the last few months Ralph has been relentlessly courting his favorite rock... It is also dark with striping. That's interesting that your guys two turts have rocks like that too!
As long as he's still eating and basking, it's not a problem. The way my Mom figured it: What else are you going to do in a tank alone all day?

[turtledudee]

i guess a coincidence, I too have a rock, dark, striped, and spotted, juggernaut likes to court with. lol wierd.

and yes that would be "the mating ritual"

[d0eb0y]

good to hear that im not the only one experiencing this. it was very weird to me when i was seeing him doing it this morning. just the way his arms were vibrating. i thought he was having a seizure or something. but he is fine. swimming around and eating normally but every once in a while he goes over to mrs rock and vibrates his arms in her face and gives her a couple slaps on her rear. lol. go norman!!

[CountryGirl68]

My turtle does that against his reflection in the tank. That's normal. Pretty freaky the first time you see it though, isn't it?