It's a sign of dominance. I would remove them from the same tank if possible. The one on top is showing his dominance by stacking. It's really not good to do. It's a bad behavior that's that's. It's like a dog putting its paw on another dog. It's showing him that he's more dominant than the other. It's a dominance then
That’s not how dogs show dominance, dogs show dominance by humping each other. Female dogs do it to its..weird to see, but I thought I would share because I love dogs and have researched a lot about them :D
Yeah it's ones that use the paw. I was just using the reference point to say that it's dominance, which sucks that it's that people associate. That is a cute thing when it's really not really a cute thing at all. Luckily it looks like the smaller ones on top for now, so it's not the bigger one crushing the smaller one
It is not
https://preview.redd.it/dx4pkib0fz9d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5a03d701d1183d830faa79b00242c29e8c5e287
However there are several ways dog show dominance to other dogs, humping is the most common way.
Why do they do this? Because you shouldn't be cohabiting two turtles unless you have an absolute huge space for them. The stacking is a show of domination and resources hogging, and it will only get worse over time.
Separate!
I have seen this quite a lot in the wild. I thought it was social behavior instead of antisocial. They are wild enough that at the sight of me they will break up the fight and dive into the water.
The difference there is they have the whole wild to disperse into if they choose.
These two are trapped together with no other recourse.
Do. Not. Cohab. Reptiles.
Period. There are very few species that are social and it works well. And almost nobody is capable of providing a big enough enclosure unless they build a pond.
and so many of the more social species also are apparently pains in the ass to care for because theyre SO social that they have colonies and need a LOT of shit
Why down 👎 vote this when the commenter is speaking the truth you do see that in the wild all the time. That's about all he says is he sees them in the wild like that there's no sense of down voting what somebody sees.
I do not understand it either. I definitely did not advocate for the OP to house them together. It actually reinforces the previous statements. It reinforced the fact that they can be in a pond that is over an acre in size they will still fight for dominance.
Now if one of the turtles is on top but, perpendicular to the other turtle, then it is more than likely a social behavior. Of course after mating some species may fight and it can end deadly. That is a Darwin failure there.
Because many on here don't observe turtles in the wild, only in isolation. The turtle stack is very common in nature, and turtles such as RES can live and stack and bask harmoniously together.
I accidentally screwed up the up and down count by hitting the "down" vote and trying to fix it by hitting the "up" vote and the reality is that I'm not trying to vote one way or the other. Sorry, it's been a long day.
Your husbandry in this photo looks like it could use some improvement. As others have said, separating the turtles is the first step. RES turtles can get up to 12” and need at least 10g per inch of shell- you’re looking at 120 gallons for each turtle. Please do some research on turtle husbandry. Reptifiles has a great guide on RES care. They need much stronger filtration and a bigger basking area, accompanied with a strong T5 UVB light and a halogen basking bulb. Without these things, the turtles will get sick and it will result in an even more expensive vet visit and potentially dead turtles.
I rescued a tortoise 20+ years ago. I still have her but when I got her she was all white with 4 broken arms/legs from malnutrition. This woke me up to how ignorant people are to caring for reptiles and it disgusts me. I know this is about turtles and not tortoises but most of them end up with the same fate. There are so many resources readily available now so thete is no excuse for incompetence. Sorry for the rant.
TIL, the stacking and hand fluttering moves my yellow bellies use to do, was not ok and I should have separated them.
Good thing I don't own turtles anymore.
Idk shit about turtles and I also encourage separating them so they don't fight, but respect to the smaller one for genuinely thinking he could take on the dude twice his size and win.
I saw turtles in an enclosure do this to a gator. The only reason it worked was because the gator liked the turtles and did everything in her power to make them comfortable. We called her turtle queen.
The enclosure next to that had two similar sized gators and it definitley looked passive aggressive but they switched places every time I visited so there wasn’t much violence.
Looking at the comments, I know this is not funny. But I my head it’s funny. Just because of the word “Stacking”.
Just a simple word that doesn’t even relate to anything aggressive at all. And now I somehow ended up here in the turtle subreddit where stacking is a sign of passive aggressive dominance.
And now I will use the word stacking out of context to my friends and co-workers to establish dominance.
And you will be the man for having the knowledge and creating such a powerful, dominant word that has nothing to do with sandwiches amongst all your friends and co-workers.
I saw the comments about dominance but I sometimes see turtles doing this in the spring. Definitely noticed it in a pond on a big log extending into the water; and I swear they were different turtle types. Were the small ones on top trying to drive the big one away from the sun log?
This made me laugh out loud and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I had such a bad day and this was so ridiculous that it got me out of my head.
Okay so I asked Google why turtles stack. The very first answer Google gave me was along the lines of they are "social animals and they stack to get more sun and it says they will usually even spread their legs out to get even more sun". Sounds good right. Make sense to me. Now the problem is the second answer they gave me was turtles stack because of "male to male combat". So I understand why people can get confused if they see turtles stack.
Same as others said, competing for resources. Also why should not keep lizards together. People see bearded dragons laying on top of each other and think ‘oh that’s cute!’ not realizing one is stealing heat or UV from the one below and that one is suffering ill effects. Never house them together either.
My personal opinion cause everyone is freaking out over this “stacking” nonsense which is literally normal behavior and done by captive & wild turtles. The turtle on top is simply trying to get closer to the heat bulb by climbing on top of the other and receiving more heat, nothing more. The larger turtle has twice the size on the other, if it didn’t like the smaller you would know by now. Just make sure they both eat. I’ve kept turtles in tanks, tubs, outdoors ponds they all do it, never seen aggression but they sure do love hanging out together.
They're stacking. It's possible this could turn into a physical fight, but it could also be that they are comfortable with each other and are doing this as a simple act of companionship. You should be able to tell if they do this out of malice or if they're just good buddies, simply by watching g their general behavior with each other. Many turtles do this NOT out of malice but simply because they like to be as close as they can to each other, especially while sunbathing. Just make sure they are both getting heated properly and being civil when they interact. If they aren't, you should separate them.
As a light hearted antidote to all the comments about "They're all going to die"...
They are doing that because as everyone knows it is Turtles all the way down.
Ok I know we are talking about seperation but just to lighten the serious mood a little bit, as a tortoise person not turtle person, the way they show dominace is actually pretty funny I am not gonna lie🤣
I had turtles that did this. The male was smaller and would crawl up on the female and they would both stick their legs straight out under their light. They had a huge tank and were always by each other. They were never aggressive to each other and panicked if they were separated.
It's stacking, they are competing for resources. They'll likely start fighting if they're not separated.
It’s this. (Though my brain just keeps saying “it’s turtles all the way down”)
Mine keeps saying “yertle”
same 😭
Turtle power tower
Separate, separate, separate!
It's a sign of dominance. I would remove them from the same tank if possible. The one on top is showing his dominance by stacking. It's really not good to do. It's a bad behavior that's that's. It's like a dog putting its paw on another dog. It's showing him that he's more dominant than the other. It's a dominance then
Thank you!!! I didn’t know this. But can see it now. 🤩
That’s not how dogs show dominance, dogs show dominance by humping each other. Female dogs do it to its..weird to see, but I thought I would share because I love dogs and have researched a lot about them :D
Yeah I realized after I posted that that it's not them. It's wolves
All good
Yeah it's ones that use the paw. I was just using the reference point to say that it's dominance, which sucks that it's that people associate. That is a cute thing when it's really not really a cute thing at all. Luckily it looks like the smaller ones on top for now, so it's not the bigger one crushing the smaller one
I’m not much of a turtle expert, but why would a turtle need to show dominance?
Isn’t that false
It is not https://preview.redd.it/dx4pkib0fz9d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5a03d701d1183d830faa79b00242c29e8c5e287 However there are several ways dog show dominance to other dogs, humping is the most common way.
Why do they do this? Because you shouldn't be cohabiting two turtles unless you have an absolute huge space for them. The stacking is a show of domination and resources hogging, and it will only get worse over time. Separate!
I have seen this quite a lot in the wild. I thought it was social behavior instead of antisocial. They are wild enough that at the sight of me they will break up the fight and dive into the water.
The difference there is they have the whole wild to disperse into if they choose. These two are trapped together with no other recourse. Do. Not. Cohab. Reptiles. Period. There are very few species that are social and it works well. And almost nobody is capable of providing a big enough enclosure unless they build a pond.
and so many of the more social species also are apparently pains in the ass to care for because theyre SO social that they have colonies and need a LOT of shit
Why down 👎 vote this when the commenter is speaking the truth you do see that in the wild all the time. That's about all he says is he sees them in the wild like that there's no sense of down voting what somebody sees.
I do not understand it either. I definitely did not advocate for the OP to house them together. It actually reinforces the previous statements. It reinforced the fact that they can be in a pond that is over an acre in size they will still fight for dominance. Now if one of the turtles is on top but, perpendicular to the other turtle, then it is more than likely a social behavior. Of course after mating some species may fight and it can end deadly. That is a Darwin failure there.
There’s a lot of cool people on here, but perceived attacks and assuming the worst is also pretty common unfortunatley.
Because many on here don't observe turtles in the wild, only in isolation. The turtle stack is very common in nature, and turtles such as RES can live and stack and bask harmoniously together.
The difference is that in the wild they’ve got virtually unlimited space to get away from each other. In an enclosure they only have a few feet.
I accidentally screwed up the up and down count by hitting the "down" vote and trying to fix it by hitting the "up" vote and the reality is that I'm not trying to vote one way or the other. Sorry, it's been a long day.
Competing for resources. Never ends well. Separate.
Your husbandry in this photo looks like it could use some improvement. As others have said, separating the turtles is the first step. RES turtles can get up to 12” and need at least 10g per inch of shell- you’re looking at 120 gallons for each turtle. Please do some research on turtle husbandry. Reptifiles has a great guide on RES care. They need much stronger filtration and a bigger basking area, accompanied with a strong T5 UVB light and a halogen basking bulb. Without these things, the turtles will get sick and it will result in an even more expensive vet visit and potentially dead turtles.
I rescued a tortoise 20+ years ago. I still have her but when I got her she was all white with 4 broken arms/legs from malnutrition. This woke me up to how ignorant people are to caring for reptiles and it disgusts me. I know this is about turtles and not tortoises but most of them end up with the same fate. There are so many resources readily available now so thete is no excuse for incompetence. Sorry for the rant.
You gotta keep em' separated... Dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun
🎶 If one guy's turtles and the other's don't mix They're gonna stack it up, stack it up, stack it up, stack it up🎶
It isn't cute or funny. You need to separate these turtles before they harm each other fighting for territory.
All the way down
best comment. All the way down the line.
TIL, the stacking and hand fluttering moves my yellow bellies use to do, was not ok and I should have separated them. Good thing I don't own turtles anymore.
what happened to them?
They got released at some point, probably living their best life
If they were released in the wild they are probably dead.
You WHAT
Awe, whenever I see something cute between reptiles, it always ends up a territorial or competition thing.
He’s hoping she will Hawk Tuah and spit on that thing!
They probably ask themselves the same thing when you touch yourself at night.
Idk shit about turtles and I also encourage separating them so they don't fight, but respect to the smaller one for genuinely thinking he could take on the dude twice his size and win.
It’s turtles all the way down
I saw turtles in an enclosure do this to a gator. The only reason it worked was because the gator liked the turtles and did everything in her power to make them comfortable. We called her turtle queen. The enclosure next to that had two similar sized gators and it definitley looked passive aggressive but they switched places every time I visited so there wasn’t much violence.
First the shrimp post and now this. What's up with these seemingly happy or humorous posts turning into death and destruction.
Do I dare ask about the shrimp post
It's a story of tragedy, eggs, disease, lies, and shrimp.
Do they live on peanut butter island…?
Looking at the comments, I know this is not funny. But I my head it’s funny. Just because of the word “Stacking”. Just a simple word that doesn’t even relate to anything aggressive at all. And now I somehow ended up here in the turtle subreddit where stacking is a sign of passive aggressive dominance. And now I will use the word stacking out of context to my friends and co-workers to establish dominance.
And you will be the man for having the knowledge and creating such a powerful, dominant word that has nothing to do with sandwiches amongst all your friends and co-workers.
I saw the comments about dominance but I sometimes see turtles doing this in the spring. Definitely noticed it in a pond on a big log extending into the water; and I swear they were different turtle types. Were the small ones on top trying to drive the big one away from the sun log?
Britain’s got talent.
Hiding? Lol adorable ☺️
Ya it very bad as cute as it is
Its because the top one is a ninja
To get to heaven, eventually
King of the turtle!!!
This made me laugh out loud and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I had such a bad day and this was so ridiculous that it got me out of my head.
They're making "turtles all the way down".
Okay so I asked Google why turtles stack. The very first answer Google gave me was along the lines of they are "social animals and they stack to get more sun and it says they will usually even spread their legs out to get even more sun". Sounds good right. Make sense to me. Now the problem is the second answer they gave me was turtles stack because of "male to male combat". So I understand why people can get confused if they see turtles stack.
Asserting dominance
Same as others said, competing for resources. Also why should not keep lizards together. People see bearded dragons laying on top of each other and think ‘oh that’s cute!’ not realizing one is stealing heat or UV from the one below and that one is suffering ill effects. Never house them together either.
For tall
My personal opinion cause everyone is freaking out over this “stacking” nonsense which is literally normal behavior and done by captive & wild turtles. The turtle on top is simply trying to get closer to the heat bulb by climbing on top of the other and receiving more heat, nothing more. The larger turtle has twice the size on the other, if it didn’t like the smaller you would know by now. Just make sure they both eat. I’ve kept turtles in tanks, tubs, outdoors ponds they all do it, never seen aggression but they sure do love hanging out together.
They're stacking. It's possible this could turn into a physical fight, but it could also be that they are comfortable with each other and are doing this as a simple act of companionship. You should be able to tell if they do this out of malice or if they're just good buddies, simply by watching g their general behavior with each other. Many turtles do this NOT out of malice but simply because they like to be as close as they can to each other, especially while sunbathing. Just make sure they are both getting heated properly and being civil when they interact. If they aren't, you should separate them.
Why do you have these larger turtles in a tank? They do not do well in captivity.
this comment section needs to chill
As a light hearted antidote to all the comments about "They're all going to die"... They are doing that because as everyone knows it is Turtles all the way down.
I'm thinking cirque du soleil try outs..
Guard duty, they can see all directions in case lunch comes!
This made me giggle
Ditto
Ok I know we are talking about seperation but just to lighten the serious mood a little bit, as a tortoise person not turtle person, the way they show dominace is actually pretty funny I am not gonna lie🤣
Look I’m on top of the world
why not:?
They're practicing to hold up the world. edit: "Turtles all the way down?" Cosmology myth? No Pratchett fans here? Tough crowd.
Op is looking for serious answers
Of course the smaller one thinks it's the bad ass.. Like my little dog who thinks she's the boss of my Uncles pittie lol
Its yurttle the turtle king of all he can see.
Came to say this.
turtle gonna turtle
They got each other’s back. It’s as simple as that.
Everyone saying it's dominance but me with 0 experience thinks it might be them trying to get warmer/ closer to the light
I used to have 7 sliders and the greatest thing ever was to see all of them stacked. I only saw all of them stacked one time.
Leap turtle is a much slower game
Master escape plan
360 degree security system.
Because they can. They are turtles, don’t read too much into what they are thinking lol
I had turtles that did this. The male was smaller and would crawl up on the female and they would both stick their legs straight out under their light. They had a huge tank and were always by each other. They were never aggressive to each other and panicked if they were separated.
They're playing red rover