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I have 2 baby res. David is about 8 months old and Johan is about 7 months old. I came home the other day and found them staring at each others faces, only about a quarter of an inch away from each other. They were also flapping their front arms in quick, short motions. Is this some sort of mating dance or maybe a dominance dance? Any help would be appreciated.

The flapping is called fluttering, and since they are so young, it might be showing agression. You should separate them right away before one gets seriously injured or dies

Sk8gal is right. Fluttering is a common sign of aggression. What size are your turtles and how big is their tank?

David is 2 3/4 inches and Johan is 2 1/2 inches. The tank is 50 gal. The rest of the time they are fine together in the tank. I've just seen them do this once or twice.

That's a good sized tank, although they are about to outgrow it. Unfortunately, when you see signs of aggression 99% of the time it only gets worse. In fact, I've never heard of a case where turtle aggression lessened with time.

untsmurf wrote:That's a good sized tank, although they are about to outgrow it. Unfortunately, when you see signs of aggression 99% of the time it only gets worse. In fact, I've never heard of a case where turtle aggression lessened with time.

Well my turtles go off and on the aggression. They will be fluttering like crazy then in a hour there basking and minding there own beeswax. Actully they haven't fighting for a couple of months.

I was actually referring to a longer period of time, like over a few years. Remember your turtles will probably live for at least 40 years (as long as there are no health problems). As the years go by, aggression increases.

my turtles do that too and it is only the boy one that does it to the girl..however, i red earlier that the young males may try to do the "dance" or fluttering cuz they want to mate even though they really cant at a young age. So maybe david is showing affection.