Red ear slider biting

Question
Hi,  My daughter purchased two 1" red ear turtles 18 months ago. The male is now 5 1/2" long and the female 6 1/2". My husband feeds them pellets every night and shrimp or crickets  as a snack during the day. They have grown rapidly.  Is this because of all the food they eat? From what I read they are overfed.  Should we decrease their food?
The most important question is about the BITING. The male has been showing signs of mating(the mating dance). He has bitten the female twice on the inside of her leg.  Are they too young to mate?  I separated them because I'm afraid he will hurt her.  What should I do? Is the biting part of mating?  Thanks for any advice you can give me.  Barbara

Answer
Diet- we usually feed young turtles about every other day, with a serving size about the size of their head (or 2-3 times that) to help prevent overfeeding- which is really easy!

Biting- courtship more often involves stroking the face, although your turtles are big enough to mate. Biting is a more aggressive display, possibly because of a small tank.

We recommend that turtles get about 10 gallons of swimming space per inch of shell length- so you really should have about 120 gallons fo water for them to play in. This gives them space to avoid problems, reduces stress, etc. Most of us use big plastic tubs or kiddie pools at this stage- cheaper, easier to clean, etc.

A couple good websites for you to look at are http://www.austinsturtlepage.com and http://www.redearslider.com

Good luck!