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i know you guys get asked questions about fluttering all the time and everyone has a different and varied opinion of it, but today i discovered tumble fluttering at lydia.

lydia is only very young (a hatchling) 1 1/2". and tumble is 3 1/2" so maybe a year or so old. is there any reason why fluttering should be a problem seeing as none of the two have reached sexual maturity.

do turtles do this as a sign of friendship or as a game of hide and seek.

Unfortunately not -- it is a sign of aggression most likely for their ages. Oh wait... has Tumble started fanning yet? Anyway, Lydia is way too young so that is not the best thing happening. If this keeps happening, guess you should separate them.

Ok, I just saw your other post -- I think the fluttering is really the territorial thing since she is a new comer.

he was following her around the tank doing a kind of peek a boo action. its the first time ive seen it.

they get on great all the time, they swim together and lydia rides on tumbles back and tumble helps her to climb onto the basking spot to get food. they are in general really good friends.

it sounds like a territorial issue. i would keep a close watch on them and at the first sign of aggression you will need to seperate them

if i have to seperate them then i will have to get rid of one as there is no way i am having 2 tanks running. im not sure if its teritorial they sit together all the time, play together, swim together, bask together and eat together.

This sounds exactly like my little guys here! Well, I am trying to teach them not to do this by punishing (giving a turtle version timeout) the one who flutters every time when I catch it fluttering. It is still in the experimental stage but they seem to know fluttering is not allowed ... when I watch.

lol that sounds like a good idea. i think i might try that myself.

Try saying "good turtle" when they do something good (and give a little treat or patting at the beginning) and "bad turtle" when they're bad the ways you would on a human kid (omitting the reasoning part! ), this works on my turtles. Sometimes they stop being bad just by my saying "bad turtle".

hahahaha cool.

Oh one thing I forgot to mention -- both reward and punishment must be given immediately after the action -- I don't think they understand the concept of consequences from a past event. lol