Hey all my first post here.
Looking to figure out what I have going on here.
I’ve had my RES for about 3.5 years. I snowbird in Florida in the winter and found him on the side of the road in our RV park in April 2021. He was about an inch and a half long and couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 days old. I didn't want him to roast out there in the sun, so I brought him home – put in him in a plastic container of water with a couple rocks and some lettuce.
Here I am 3 ½ years later with (2) 40 gallon tanks – 1 in Pa. and 1 in Fla. – A Marineland Filter, a heater and a UV light that travel back and forth with us on the 1100 mile trip to Fla. He’s made the trip 5 times now. I guess I'm committed, because I'm at least $500.00 poorer than I was 3 years ago.
I thought he was a female up until about 4 months ago but finally figured out he was a male. Anyway, he’s never really had a formal name. I called him "Frank" for the first few weeks I had him, then not being sure on if he was M or F, I just started calling him “You Dumbass” every time I saw him. It sort of stuck.
His shell is right at about 6 inches long. He’s 8 inches tip to tip.
So he’s been a hermit most of his life. He spends more time outta the water than in it. He’s only in maybe 5 hours a day max -usually only about 3 to 3 ½ hours. He sleeps under the couch and has free run of the house. For the last 3 years, he goes anywhere and everywhere he wants and he’s typically not a problem. He gets to go outside for walks in the yard too. He constantly wants to be up on my lap or up on the couch with me. He likes having his neck rubbed underneath and a lot of times I’ll rub my nose under his neck. He loves it. He likes to sleep on my chest or my shoulder when I watch TV at night. Some days he chases me around the house when I’m working, always getting into my stuff or trying to climb on me if I’m on my knees doing something. He chases the sweeper and basically has no fear. Loves sitting on the couch and up on my shoulder or sleeping on my lap.
As far as food goes, he gets - Meal worms – Aquatic turtle food pellets and shrimp – Turtle stix and Romaine lettuce – I tried Kale but he wasn’t having any of it. I fed him almost every day up until about 10 days ago. Now he’s getting food every other day.
Recently when he’s in the water for a while, he’ll charge the glass and try to bite and snap at me. He seems like he does this only when he’s submerged when I put my finger near the glass. As soon as he comes up outta the water he seems to stop. This probably started within the last 4 or 5 weeks. Also when I take him out of the water, sometimes he’ll RUN after and chase me and try to bite me for a couple minutes, and then he wants to be picked up and he’s fine. He doesn’t do this all the time, but he has done it a few times.
The other day he was on my lap for about 30 minutes and just randomly walked up and bit my chin for no reason - it surprised the hell outta me! Then a few days later he bit my lip. Not the best feeling trust me. It’s really outta character for him. Later I picked him up and he was fine. Now I don’t’ let him near my face like I used to. When he walks up towards my face, I turn him the other way. Today he seemed like he wanted to bite sat me too for no reason. Not aggressively, but he definitely opened his mouth when I put my finger near him.
Anyway I hope some of you reading this may have some thoughts as to this biting thing that he’s started. If you need any pix of him or his tank, let me know.
Thanks
mt
