General Care Discussion :: omg whats up with that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

[blackforce247]

SERIOUSLY HELP ME OUT HERE!. ok i went up to my turtle tank and there was this weird thing going on. see there is a male and a older female red eared slider turtle. so i see the bigger one putting its nose against each other. WHATS THAT ALL ABOUT!??. ok calm calm. ok anyway the female moves its arms quickly wen their mouths touch each other. whats that all about i heard its a mating dance but is that something i should be worried about?

[blackforce247]

hahaha ok then im fine now and they seem to do it when nobody is watching. but if your quiet they will do it but if your not theyll split and do it after a few more minutes. i keep them in a dark room but you can hear them banging against the tank. but is it somthing to be concerned about really?

[blackforce247]

oh whoever sees this post, i still don't know the answer. so its free for anyone to tell me abut whats up with that. please answer because i don't know im just a "click" away. oh thanks to whoever answers i appreciate it and i hope you the best :]

[megcornell]

It sounds to me like they are fighting.
How large are they and how large is the tank?
If you see and hear them fighting and biting you will need to separate them. Turtles can easily seriously harm or kill each other.

[blackforce247]

uhh that stills doesnt help but whatever. anyway thanks but they dont seem to fight they seem to get along really. the baby male was really frightened to see the larger one. after a few minutes they got really close the day i bought her at the pet store. oh please this STILL DOESNT ANSWER MY QUESTION ABOUT WHAT I ASKED. please answer and ill give you thanks to whever helped me out or who did help me with this question

[megcornell]

You should NEVER put baby turtles in with adults. The adults can and will kill them over territory, food, whatever. It can even happen accidentally.
You should buy the hatchling it's own set up before it gets hurt.

You also didn't answer the questions about your set up. Have you read over the general care section?

[blackforce247]

oh ok that kinda helps. they been fighting over territory since i see the small baby one in a corner all the time. oh the tank looks somthing like a modern rectangle tank. it has no plants filter uv light im guessing 10 gallon fish tank. im giving my baby red eared slider to my science teacher in a few days and i doubt they will be any threat to each other really. and no i didnt go to the general care section yet. i just began coming here so i dnt know much.

[megcornell]

A 10 gallon tank is not large enough for an adult turtle. Why don't you read through the basic care and habitat sections to see what a turtle requires.

And for the safety of both animals, you really should separate them. If they are fighting already, I doubt that hatchling will be safe until you give it away.

[blackforce247]

total length of the female is 5 inches and the baby is 2 inches, does that seem to help?. oh, they dont fight its just territorial space thats all which does count as fighting. but i guess i should put it in a smaller tank for the smaller one

[megcornell]

That does count as fighting. Fighting is usually over territory.

At five inches your female should have about 50 gallons of water.

Please read over some general information.

[blackforce247]

ya i read it. a turtle has about 10 gallons of each inch. i have a small little container that i use to keep it in. now i can tell i should separate them but they dont seem to fight when i let them play in my bathtub. maybe its just the space im guessing. really that helps

[Sgt. Pepper]

They probably fight when you're not there as well. You're lucky she hasn't killed or injured the baby already. 10 gallons is way too small for either one of those turtles by itself. Your female needs at the very least a 50 gallon tank just by herself.

There's no reason to have an attitude. People were replying and telling you that you should separate them because they were fighting so there's no reason to say "Well whatever". If you would go back through a few threads you'd see that several people have made posts about this same issue. The site has a search feature as well that can be extremely useful.

[blackforce247]

ya ive seen it and its something to be concerned. the problem is for now i have to keep them in my bathtub until i get a bigger tank id say about 90 gallons sounds right. but the bad thing is they might stay there for about a few months. since i make about 60 dollars a hour its gona take a while since i have to send them 450 dollars a month. ill get it as fast as i can to help these guys. thx for all the help and keep replying if you have any suggestions

[Sgt. Pepper]

The bathtub? Why don't you just get a rubbermaid or plastic storage tub, about 40 or 50 gallons, and use that for now. I thought you were giving the small one to your teacher? And if it's only 2 inches there's no way to tell what gender it is yet. You seriously need to separate them. I'd say keep the smaller one in the 10 gallon for now and buy a big tub for the female. You should get as much of the basic stuff as you can, water heater, basking area, basking lamps (heat and uvb).

[TheComputerGremlin]

Look on Craigslist and other places like that to see if you can get a used tank for cheaper than normal. Since summer's coming, I'd say the basking area and basking lamps are most important, then heater, then filter.