What does this mean? I'd love to find out!?

Question

Well, late last night I realized that my turtles (2 res's) were doing this for the first time and did it for about a few minutes.

Basically they were facing each other under the water with both of their hands out and tapping their hands with each other.....does anyone know what does means? has this happened to your turtles?

I have no idea and would love to know. It seemed very cool.

thank you for your time.

Answer 1

This was an answer in the reptiles group. They're practicing the mating dance!

Breeding
What most of you are most interested in. To breed your turtle must be about 5 years old and there shell(of the female)should be 15 cms(6 inches). The tank should be 30 gallons and keep the water warm and shallow because the male might
get so concentrated that he might forget that the
female needs to go up for breathing! Before they mate the male does the MATING DANCE. The MATING DANCE is when the male corts the female. He dose so by caressing her with his front claws. He also
might try to swim in circles around her or try to
lightly strike her with with his front legs(looks like his front legs are shaking). If she does not accept him within 45 minutes take him out or there might be a fight. If it doesent work the first time then try withen two days(the mating only takes about 15 minutes). After they mate you
should seperate them and only handel the female only when necessary! You should also keep the water very clean and give her alot of space and heat. If she does not want to eat dont worry about it,this is normal but keep ofering her food!if she is more on land than in water and sniffing and/or digging for the place to lay her eggs after like two months and a half you should put her in a 20 gallon tank with about 4 inches of potting soil. Try to find out where she layed her eggs(dont go in the soil and look for them unless you are going to incubate them). She can lay 2-20
eggs. After about 80 to 85 days its time for the babies to come out. When they do, do not remove a sac that is on there bellies. That sac is what fed them in the egg, it will come off eventualy.
When it dose come off there will be a split on the
plastron, it will heal by itself. You should put them in a 20 gallon tank per dozen, give them some land, chang the water every two days if you dont have a filter and give them a full spectrum light.
PS: chop,or break the food that they eat.

Answer 2

The previous answer that said this was a mating display is correct - if you look at the turtles, one (at least) will have long claws on the front legs - this will be a male. They'll display to females, or another male if no females are in the tank - so no guarantees they'll be any mating.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Info/info.htm - page down to "Is my turtle a boy or a girl"

Answer 3

HOW CUTE!!

This kind of reminds me of a otter video I saw online....
They were just chillin' in the water holding hads...

Ohhh...I don't know what your turtle actions mean, but I wanted to share my otter story..

*giggle*

Answer 4

Actually, you'll never believe this, but yesterday (4/19) was "National High-Five Day!" That's what they were doing! Check out this link.

http://www.nationalhighfiveday.com/

Answer 5

Sounds like you may have babys on the way.

Answer 6

that's pretty sweet. Never heard of that before. i think someone in the reptiles section may know though. you should try posting it there too.