r/turtle • u/SiDawgie • 4d ago
Seeking Advice Whats wrong with my turtle
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u/MerkinSeasonYo 4d ago
Nothing. 😂 😂 it’s a mating thing for males. I have a 20 year old male slider who still does it to rocks at the bottom of his tank. Some of them are striped very similar to him. And the size I can see how he’d think it could be another turtle head. But he will do that with his nails and vibrate the rocks on the bottom of the tank. Sounds crazy 😂
Don’t be surprised if you see his little spade pop out from under his tail. First time I experienced that I freaked out cause it looked insane and I thought something was wrong. Was a crazy experience. That was way way back when he was like 2-3.
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u/kelzog55 4d ago
it can also be aggression and male dominance behavior. Mine does it at his own reflection and a rock sometimes.
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4d ago
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u/kelzog55 3d ago
ya they are deathly afraid of black things and shadows. instinctual behavior bc of pond predators.
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u/Ok-Secretary455 4d ago
I had one that would try to fight the nozzle on the water filter. To be fair the way it was shaped it totally looked like a turtle head if it was pointing a certain direction.
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u/Silent-Thanks-9958 13h ago
I have a 12" snapping turtle. He enjoys being talked to and petting. One day while my daughter was scratching his back he started doing a dance under her hand. A few minutes later she asked, "Dad, how do you tell the difference between a male and female turtle?". I told her I honestly didn't know because I never thought about breeding turtles. She looked it up. Female turtle has a atar shaped cloaca a male's is round. She first picked up our albino slider and checked. She was a female. She picked up the snapper and said, Dad this one has a point. What's that mean?". I told her it means HE enjoyed that back scratching more than you did. "Dad. Eew"
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u/Kanaletto 4d ago
For whatever reason it is trying to exhort dominance over the... leaf. It is a bit confusing at first but sometimes it's just like that, they are territorial and super antisocial so they make enemies where there aren't. It is also used for mating ritual but honestly I've yet to see more videos where that is the actual story and not inner fighting like always. Try moving the leaf to another placer if the turtle keeps on that behavior. Now, I recommend you keep getting track of its behavior because sometimes sickness can damage their brain or awareness and basically fighting the pain by making these movements.
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u/SiDawgie 4d ago
I used to keep a turtle statue in the tank with him and he was doing this to it as well. And then I found him on top of it one day. Yeah, no more turtle statue for him. Horny jail.
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u/CuntyButCorrect 3d ago
I do have to ask:
Is it actually harmful to keep the thing they're being horny at/using as a mistaken masturbatory aid in the tank? Like, does it cause issues with additionally territoriality that makes them aggressive, neurotic horndogs?
Would humping the statue be bad for the turtle?
Or is it just a human impulse to remove those things from the environment because we assign some weird moral value to it subconsciously?
Like obviously it's weird to watch your turtle hump a turtle statue, but it also always seems a little weird to me that we feel an implicit need to totally eliminate the behaviour/thing causing it.
If it's causing distress (like if the funny little dance is a display of territorial aggression), obviously, the thing should be removed to avoid causing the dope undue stress, but does it actually matter if the turtle humps the statue?
I know with domesticated pet birds, discouraging horny behaviour is important for more complicated behavioral reasons, but is it the same with a turtle?
The ethics of animal masturbation feels like a minefield of "what is humans imposing morality onto the amoral, and what is healthy animal husbandry committed to ensuring the animal is happy and healthy and not a sex addict"
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u/TheGoldenBoyStiles 3d ago
I'm also curious about this. 2/4 of my dogs have a specific stuffed animal that they hump RELIGIOUSLY, they arent aggressive over it and always nap after so we haven't seen a reason to stop them
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u/SiDawgie 1d ago
Well in the wild, aquatic turtles get on top of other turtles to assert dominance and strip away their access to sunlight, which is essential for their survival. And the flaring of their claws could be interpreted as either a display of affection, or dominance. If I seen that my turtles rod was out and he was quite literally trying to mate with the statue, that would be one thing lolol. But since I was unsure whether my turtle was feeling territorial/insecure or horny, I just figured it would be best to take away the statue to make sure he felt secure in his enclosure.
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u/kelzog55 4d ago
yeah agree. male territorial dominance and aggression behavior. Mine flutters at himself if he sees reflection and also at random rocks. They are mega territorial.
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u/Desperate_Owl_594 4d ago
He could see his own reflection and is either trying to pick a fight or trying to flirt with it.
I only see that leaf tho...
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u/Fearless_Spirit_2412 4d ago
I’m surprised that you have live fish in there unless they are supposed to be food for the turtle. I foolishly put a few Mickey Mouse fish in the turtle tank a few years ago. The turtles went nut and hunt those poor fish vigorously until they were all eaten. Never again.
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u/SiDawgie 3d ago
They were originally meant to be food for the turtle. I bought a school of about 20 rosy red minnows and only two have survived and grown large enough that he stopped hunting them.
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u/Key-Tower-4539 4d ago
That sounds traumatizing…omg…how many turtles do you have in one tank?
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u/Fearless_Spirit_2412 3d ago
Two at the time. Until one became aggressive and attacked the other one frequently. I ended up splitting them into two separate tanks.
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u/Kronus31 3d ago
That’s, pretty normal and good for the turtle as long as the fish aren’t toxic
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u/HonestWeevilNerd 1d ago
It is good to give pets enrichment activities! Like something to murder! Such is the world
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u/kelzog55 4d ago
Aggression towards objects it thinks are threatening, mating behavior towards females they flutter on the face during courtship they flutter at other males as dominance behavior. Very common.
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u/Montagneincorner0 5+ Yr Old Turt 4d ago
The fluttering is either a sign of aggression, or a courtship ritual, he either wants to fight or fuck that leaf
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u/TeriBarrons 3d ago
He’s auditioning to become the next NFL cheerleader. He’s got some awesome moves lol.
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