General Care Discussion :: Is it normal for 2 males to try and mate?

[Joel]

My two 3 year old RES's are always getting it on, they are both males and they have never seen a female.
Is this normal?

[Linus]

Well it is the 21st century.

Anyway, they still create testostorone(bad spelling) so its got to go somewhere.

[megcornell]

Do you mean they are actually mating or are they just fluttering?
Either way it's a sign of dominance, and I'd watch them for aggression.

How large are the males and how large is their tank?

[Joel]

they are 5 inches long, there tank is over a meter in length.

the other male will sometimes wrap his tail around the others males face or otherwise oftenly wrap it around the other ones tail..
They also flutter if they stare in each others eyes for to long lol

[TheComputerGremlin]

Unfortunately this will just lead to further aggression. Since they cannot actually mate (you are 100% positive they are both males? they have Freddie Krueger claws or you've seen their, umm, junk?), they are very likely to start actually attacking one another soon.

You said their tank is a meter long, how many gallons is it? A meter doesn't sound very big, for two 5 inch turtles, you would need at least 100 gallons now, and probably around 150 gallons in the long run, if they don't actually start biting each other.

But realize that once aggression starts, it won't stop, and in a matter of seconds, one turtle can kill the other turtle, and you will hardly be able to stop them.