General Care Discussion :: Aggressiveness or something?

[sollord]

My turtle has recently decided the filter intake is a threat I think and keeps I guess challenging it or something it swims up and vibrates it front nails on it a few times then backs off and swims around funny before doing it again. He repeat this four or five them before swimming off to float around then a few hours later is back at it again

Is this normal?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yes, it's normal. He's fluttering at it, which is either a sign of aggression towards it or mating. My only concern is that it's the filter intake, which if he knocks the grate off, he can become trapped. I would recommend, if you haven't done so already, taking the filter grate off and super-gluing it onto the actually tubing. I think it will take 24 hours to dry, so you'll need to have your filter off, but it is highly recommended, esp. if he's fluttering at it. You can try to add some other aquarium decorations to distract him, like some large river rocks or plants.

[theartbook35]

Is the filter a new addition to the tank? Sometimes they get mad at new stuff. One of my turtles like the basking log but is intimidated by the heat lamp, and my turtle is the exact opposite. If it's new, eventually your turtle will get used to it.

Make sure your turtle doesn't have anything it could bite that would hurt it's face or mouth.

[sollord]

Well I can't pull off the filter grate I just tried and if he can well he's the worlds strongest turtle... As for how long it been in there... more then a year but I did move it location fromt eh side to the back fo the tank

[TheComputerGremlin]

If you can't pull it off, I would just check it periodically to ensure that it hasn't come loose.

[ellarn]

So what does the fluttering of those long nail mean? My male isdoing that towards the females face and I don't want her to get hurt.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Fluttering is a sign of mating or aggression. If he's fluttering at her, he's indicating that it's time to mate. There are two issues with this, though. 1) You have to figure out what to do with a gravid turtle and dozens of eggs every month for pretty much the rest of your life. 2) Eventually your female will tire of your male and may injure or kill him.

A good recommendation is to separate them before anything happens. This means no dealing with fertile eggs (which you should humanely destroy, as turtles can have at least a hundred babies a year) and no potential injuries. Also, with the male and female separated, eggs will be less frequent, so you won't need to spend as much time with her nesting.

However, not everyone takes this approach. You can leave them together, though you should check daily for injuries and destroy any eggs that are laid. You will likely need a year-round nesting area, you can use the outdoors, just keep an eye on her as they are fast and can get away easily. Also, to cut down on possible aggression, you should try to have a large tank that meets the 10 gallons per inch of turtle, which is additive. So for a 4" male and a 6" female, you should have at least a 100 gallon tank. The bigger the tank, the more resources (such as a second basking area), the less likely aggression will get bad.

Hope this helps!