Pet red-eared slider Turtles?

Question

I have a couple of red-eared slider turtles that like to get face to face and fan each others face with their front feet. I don't know how to tell if they are male or female. They are 6 inches long. Can somebody please tell me what it means? And how to tell if I have boys or girls?

Answer 1

I owned a pair of red-eared sliders for many years, and they performed the same ritual by fluttering their front legs towards each other. It is the tell-tale mating ritual for this species of turtle. My two did successfully mate but the offspring unfortunately never lived, and they never mated again.

As far as determining the sex of a red-eared slider, I can provide you with some specific steps I found online (I didn't realize all these were significant when I owned turtles, interesting):

1. Flip the turtle over. Is the bottom shell convex (protrudes out)? If so, it's a female. If it's concave (caves in), then it's a male.
2. Look at its tail. Most turtles have a hole which is called the cloaca or "vent" located on their tail. Male turtles have the vent located on the outside of their shell (farther away from the body). Female turtles have the vent located on the inside of the shell (closer to the body).
3. Examine the thickness of the tail. Male turtles often have fatter and bigger tales than the female.

Glad to help and I hope you enjoy your pets.

Answer 2

Phildin is correct about the mating behavior. There's an even easier way to sex adult water turtles - look at the front feet! Males have long toenails, females are smaller:
http://www.redearslider.com/determining_sex.html

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm

Answer 3

That is a courtship ritual.

Males have the long front claws. They also have longer tails and in-curved belly shells (plastrons). Females have the shorter tails and flat or out-curved plastrons.

Try http://www.austisnturtlepage.com or http://www.redearslider.com for other ideas.

Answer 4

This may be a dumb question, but is the tank warm enough? If not he could be trying to hibernate, which could be fatal under the wrong circumstances. The water needs to be at least 70 degrees (F)