I've had my male turtle for a little over 8 years now and he's been alone, i.e. without other turtles. A woman my sister works with had 2 females and either didnt want to or couldnt take care of them anymore, so I offered to take them in. I always thought RES were social and liked being around others, I put them together and for a while they ignored each other (well the male kept his distance from the 2 females) but after a while, he came over and started his little mating dance, but I dont think the females were too responsive, then the male started chasing the females rather aggressively and snapping at them.

I figured it was just that my male was just used to living by himself and not being around others, because the 2 females like being around each other. I never thought a male would have a problem being with 2 females (normally its when you have 2 males and one female of any other type of animal)

Anyone have any advice, or experienced this type of dillema.
I always see turtles in the wild and at the zoo swimming around and laying on top of each other and I figured it was just social turtles.

Turtles can be territorial and jealous. Your male turtle is used to having the place to himself. Are they in a pond? If so, they should learn to get along over time. In an aquarium, fighting turtles may have to be separated. The male probably wants to woo the girls but when they want little to do with him, he gets frustrated and may attack. As with most animals, it takes time for new individuals to establish a pecking order and learn to get along.

They are in seperate ponds. and the ponds arent filled up and are surrounded by landscape bricks... there are holes drilled around the edges so the pond wont fill up... i dont want them to escape.

BUT, last night i looked in the males pond and I saw 2 turtle heads... I couldnt find the other one, because it was getting dark and my male turtle had just knocked over some plants so there was some dirt in the pond. This morning I definately found 2 turtles, my male and one of the new females, that must have figured out how to plop over the edge into the other pond (must have been the rain and the water didnt drain out fast enough, good thing it went into the pond and didnt get away). They seem to be getting along, I might try and introduce the other female and see if they can be one big happy family.

Turtles are good escape artists! So, you had them together, they didn't get along, you separated them into different ponds, and now they're back together? Sounds like they're figure it out.

I have a couple questions....

1. My male has these white spots on his shell, I have heard about shell rot or fungal infections, but the spots have been there for a long time and they arent getting bigger or spreading, and the area around the spots arent soft. I thought they were scratches or marks from rocks and things he may bump into. He is kept in very clean water, unless he knocks over plants and it gets murky for a bit, but other than that his water is very clean... I was wondering if this sounds like a fungal infection or should I medicate him just in case. He is acting perfectly fine.. acting like a dog, swimming up to me and staring at me and following me around the pond, just like he always does. Like I said, I couldnt even pick a length of time those spots have been on him. I would send an email or upload a picture of him if I can.

Question 2. The male turtle is always knocking the plants over and dumping out the dirt and making his water dirty (while i am trying to keep him in clear water, he wants to make it filthy). Is there a way to stop him from doing this, can I put fake plants, or will he tear those up, should i not put any plants, Is there a way to keep the dirt from swirling all over the water... I have plants in my fish pond and the water never gets cloudy, unless it rains and gets stirred up, but it quickly settles. What do I do????

On a happier note... the 3 turtles seem to be getting along. My male is always swimming around like I described above, but the females hang out together and spend alot of time under water, I guess they arent used to me just yet, and if they are on the rocks and I come out, they "slide" right back into the water.

Regarding the white spots, it's hard to say without seeing the turtle. If you can get a small jpg photo of the turtle and close up of the spots, that would help. The fact that they've been there a long time would make me guess that they are blemishes or injuries/scratches to the shell. Shell rot is where the shell gets soft and gushy and gross. Fungus tends to spread or worsen. It may or may not include fuzzy white on it. It can just be very discernable as with a wild box turtle we treated once for other problems. It think in her case, the scutes had some gray at the margins from fungus.

"Question 2. The male turtle is always knocking the plants over and dumping out the dirt and making his water dirty (while i am trying to keep him in clear water, he wants to make it filthy). Is there a way to stop him from doing this, can I put fake plants, or will he tear those up, should i not put any plants, Is there a way to keep the dirt from swirling all over the water... I have plants in my fish pond and the water never gets cloudy, unless it rains and gets stirred up, but it quickly settles. What do I do????"

If you find a way to train a turtle (or most other animals) to do what you want, let me know! He's going to do what he wants to do. In my ponds, it's the raccoons knocking pots over and muddying the water, and the koi rooting in the pots! A pond should have plants. With the turtle there, expect him to taste and mess some of them up. It may help to put more pea gravel in the top of the pots or even plant your pond plants just in gravel so there's no dirt to be spilt. Clay dirt actually helps ponds to clear once the dirt itself settles. If constantly stirred up though, the dirt may always cloud the water. A good filter will remove a lot of it. Coagulants like AccuClear will help clump dirt making it get sucked into the filter or more easily sink to the bottom. Turtles may try to eat fake plants which isn't good for them.

I'm glad the turtles are learning to get along. Hopefully, the girls will get used to you in time, especially if you feed them treats like turtle pellets and earthworms.

Just a little update, the three turtles are living happily ever after. They bask on top of each other. The females are actually starting to come up to you to get food, and not run (swim) away. Maybe my male "talked some sense" into them. Turtle owners may not understand, but after having turtles, you start to think that they think like people.

My male, which never dives in the water when you come up to him, started copying the females, he would dive in the water with them, then pop his head up and have the "why did i just do that?" look on his face and swim back up and get back on his rocks.

I had another question about turtles. Right now my turtles are completely in water and with 2 basking areas. Should they be able to get completely out of the water and go on solid ground. I was thinking about attaching a new pond type container to the pond and fill it with dirt and let them be able to get back and forth between the water and go explore on the dirt. it would also serve as an area for the females to lay eggs if they are ever so inclined to do.

They should be able to haul their bodies out of the water in order to bask but can do that on a rock, log, island, etc. As far as having land, it's just the more natural choice but not absolutely necessary unless you have a female and want viable eggs. With no land, a female with eggs will just dump them in the water where they suffocate/drown in short order. I think having some land area is a good idea if possible.