Urgent Care :: I'm a worried mother that caught her turtles fighting

[yterron]

I'm a worried mother that caught her turtles fluttering and snapping at each other's head. Just two days ago, I decided to increase the amount of water in their tank to the point where they can swim much more. I got them a floating "rock" for their resting area and a water filter. Where I live is warm, plus water heaters don't last more than a month due to mischievious turtles. Could this be the reason??? I've separated them and I'm considering getting a new tank...

I've had my turtles for two years... I really don't know how old they are because I got them from one of my students. One was about two inches and the other two and a half or maybe a little bigger. Now one is four inches while the other is three.

[RESnTX]

Any time you have more than one turtle in a tank you risk having some aggression, no matter how long they have lived together. It's normal and you can't do anything about it but separate them.

[mikee]

If your husbandry is correct and they have plenty of room there is nothing you can do about their aggression. Usually when they start they don't quit. The first thing to go will be one of the tails. A new set up for one of them is in order.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Once you have seen aggression, you need to separate them or you will end up with an injured or dead turtle. If you cannot handle a separate tank, check with family and friends to see if they can take it. The aggression WON'T go away, so they MUST be separated.

[yterron]

Thanks guys! I'm definately going to head to the pet shop first thing after I get out of work. I'm really worried about them and had researched about this sort of agression, yet no concrete answers had been received. I live in Guatemala and finding a vet that cares for res is VERY difficult! Vets here usually handle dogs, cats, and other more common animals.

[littlecakes]

If you need to find a vet at some point I wonder if you can ask someone at a nearby zoo if they can refer you to any vets that are knowledgeable about turtles.

[yterron]

Sure, that would probably be a good idea. It's sort of strange that there aren't many vets with experience treating res since there are so many here and they're such a common pet in Guatemala.

[RunninWideOpen]

Just ditto to the need to seperate them. Once aggression has started, I've never been able to get it to stop. I had one turtle that lose 4 toes because of this. I don't take any chances anymore.

[yterron]

Yep, I checked my babies' tails... they have little round tails instead of the normal ... ... so sad to see this happen all of the sudden...