General Care Discussion :: Red Ear and Yellow Belly

[nT)Gauss]

In my tank I have a red ear and a yellow bellied slider (i think, don't know the difference with yellow bellied cooter or slider, but it is one of those two) and they have been courting recently. They stick their claws infront of their faces and vibrate them really quickly. Is it okay for them to be doing this, being of different types? Any other answers to unstated questions would be greatly appreciated
Btw, the RES is a year and a half old I believe (my girlfriend gave it to me and she doesn't know either) and the yellow belled (the female) is about two and a half years old.

[Nin10doGC]

It's never suggested to house a RES with any other turtle, RES or not. They are very aggressive. They are "courting" or fanning, but to scare away the other turtle, you really need to separate them.

[megcornell]

It's fine for turtles to court other species. If there is a male with a female though she'll be prone to laying more clutches of eggs. Have you looked up how to build nesting sites and what symptoms a gravid female has just in case?
Just be aware that the "fluttering" you're seeing is also a common sign of aggression, not just mating advances.
RES are notoriously aggressive so if the fluttering advances to nipping and fighting you will unfortunately have to separate them.

[nT)Gauss]

It isn't the RES that is "fluttering" although he is the male. It seems like the older, the female, is more interesting in fanning. She does sometimes sort of pressure him into it. That could be aggression?

[TurtleLover_S&B]

Well,since they're different species then they'll probably be more aggressive,but turtles are territorial anyway.(Different species or same species)Anyway,mine sometime will fight if one steals the other food,but other than that mine don't fight much,but then again they're the same species.

[nT)Gauss]

Assuming that they are getting along, and just courting, is it alright if these two in particular mate? Could anything wrong come of it, like different types of dogs are usually fine.

[megcornell]

Since it's the female fluttering at the male, I'm guessing it's likely her way of saying "back off." So, you'll need to keep an eye out for her to really get fed up with the male's advances and start attacking him. Unfortunately, most male turtles don't know when enough is enough and the larger females usually end up attacking them.

As for eggs, since RES are so overpopulated as it is, it's recommended to destroy them unless you're prepared to house them in their own tanks yourself. Genetically speaking, you wouldn't be creating a "rare" breed by mating the two.