General Care Discussion :: Planning her escape

[nancyclaire]

I recently took my turtle to the vet and found out that I have a healthy female. (We had thought it was a boy and have been calling her Little Dude.) anyway, she's been trying to climb up the walls of her tank. We recently got a 40 gallon tank and a new filter that makes a little bit more noise. She has a proper basking area, and we keep the tank at 77-80 degrees. She's not quite four inches, only 3 or so, and she's only a year old. I don't think she's gravid. We do have one of those aquatic looking backgrounds taped onto the back of her tank. Could that be it, and she's just distracted by that? Could she just be bored and exploring? She only does this sometimes, but is it cause for concern? Part of me thinks she's just doing it for attention because she freaks out whenever we walk by the tank.

[steve]

If she's only 3, the sex is a little early to tell. Usually the males are easy to spot under 4" since they show some physical characteristics. If she is a her, I agree that its too soon to be gravid. What does the tank look like? Does she have enough privacy? Does she act that way when no one is around?

[nancyclaire]

The vet seemed to think it was a girl because the plastron is completely flat. I'll love him just the same if it is a boy, haha.

She mostly does this when we're in the room, and honestly, she doesn't have privacy.

This is a pic of the tank before we put up the aquatic background

[steve]

Well, a flat plastron is not an indicator of gender for RES. If she's doing this and also making eye contact, then I think she is just begging.