Habitat - Outdoor :: Thinking about renaming my slider to "Houdini"

Ponds and other outdoor enclosures.

Post Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 4:47 pm   Thinking about renaming my slider to "Houdini"

I have three adult RES in a 150 outdoor pond with two basking areas with UVB light, double waterfall filtration, and a fenced area for them to wander around in. The pond gets natural sunlight in the morning up until around 11 AM, where they all bask. The rest of the time they swim around, chase fish, eat hang out under the lamps, do turtle stuff, etc. All are healthy and are voracious eaters and get along with each other.

But one of them (Mikey, the only male) has suddenly got a big case of wanderlust. He's on land quite a lot, testing parts of the fence to see if he can get through to the rest of the yard. When I'm outside I'll let him roam around on the big lawn, which he's quite happy to do, exploring and running, but not digging... just cruising. I'm wondering if it's because it's starting to get warmer, therefore being more active? Or is this some male thing? Why aren't the girls doing the same?
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Post Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:30 pm   Re: Thinking about renaming my slider to "Houdini"

He could just be getting restless or he could be harassed by the other RES. Are you certain he's a male?
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:47 am   Re: Thinking about renaming my slider to "Houdini"

Well, as certain as I can be. All of the signs point to him being a male. His front nails aren't super long but they're definitely longer than the two others, and are NOT short, the underside of his shell doesn't curve outward like the other two, the other two are bigger although they are the same age, and I watched him do a little "dance" with one of the others and then he pretty much humped her for about 15 mins.

I used to only have him by himself in the pond, where he wasn't very active at all, would just hang out in the water and come up to bask. Ever since he's been with the other two he's been more active and exploratory. For instance, the more active of the two females pretty much "showed" the other two alternate ways of getting out the bask, but none of them have been aggressive towards each other. As soon as the weather got warmer they're all more active, but he's the only one really trying at the fence. I may just extend their land section out bigger... but I think he'll still try and explore. Kinda feel bad for him, though. Guess I'll keep taking him out to run around when I'm outside.
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