Turtle Behavior... What does the pulling in of the front legs mean when 2

[Kris]

turtles are introduced to eachother? I have 2 eastern painted turtles, they are brother and sister and have lived together since birth. They are 3 years old and about 4 inches long, the male slightly bigger.

I just acquired a red eared slider about 6-7 inches and decided to see if they can live together. I put the RES in the painted turtles tank, and the female stayed away, but the male swam around the RES with his front legs pulled into the shell, but his head was still out and back legs kicking and swimming. The RES also exhibited this behavior a bit.

I separated them as soon as the male painted took a shot at the head of the RES and got a little bit of the skin fold at the neck.

They wont be housed together after this, but i was just curious of the strange front leg thing they exhibited.

Thanks
Kris