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I hear a lot of people talking about their res "fanning" at another res and I know this is usually either for mating or territorial puropses. But today I saw my res do it several times to the wall of his tank! This is the side with a background on it, so I don't think he is doing it to a reflection, but he fanned his claws really fast and opened his mouth. Anyone know what this is?

Fanning is actually when the turtle flashes his penis. What you're talking about is routinely referred to as the mating dance. I've seen both mine do that to their reflections, the rocks, the filter...whatever happens to be there. I'd chalk it up to normal turtle behaviour.

He probably saw an object that caught his fancy or made him want to assert himself. Turtles, both male and female, will flutter their paws at each other, at objects in the tank, whatever. One of my painteds has started doing it to the green knob that controls the temp on a new water heater I recently put in the tank. My RES has a few favorite rocks that he flutters at. They're nothing special to look at, but he can pick them out even if I rearrange the bottom of his tank.

mine do that alot, that fanning thing made me crack up the way you said it so seriously jen.