Urgent Care :: Painted Turtle Attacking RES

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Post Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:31 pm   Painted Turtle Attacking RES

Hello,
I currently have 2 juvenile turtles, one a painted turtle and the other a RES. The painted turtle (Vic) is about 4 inches long, and the RES (Sam) is also about 4 inches long. They have been living together for a little over year now, and recently Vic has shown many signs of aggression towards Sam. This morning while Sam was swimming, Vic came up behind him and took some skin off of his hind leg, and partially broke one of his nails. Then, he attempted it again, but I prevented that from happening. I separated them into different containers after witnessing this, but this isn't the first time that something like this has happened. In the past, Vic has bitten Sam's tail and taken skin off, too. After the first tail bite we moved them from a 20 gallon tank into a 40 gallon, and although attacks have been less frequent in the bigger tank, the painted keeps biting the RES every so often. I cannot have a constant watch on them, since we are currently in an apartment and space is limited, so we have the tank on the balcony at the moment. They have both reached sexual maturity, but Vic is female and Sam is male. We currently have gravel and a Turtle Dock in the 40 gallon tank, and have filled it about a third of the way with water. Could Vic be trying to establish dominance? And if so, when will this end? And if it's not dominance, what else could it be? Am I not feeding them enough, or is the water quality poor? I'm desperate for help, because I want to keep them healthy, and I don't want to be forced to give either of them away.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

:msgreen: :evil: :mrgreen:
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:34 am   Re: Painted Turtle Attacking RES

Some turtles are just aggressive. Unfortunately there is no simple or inexpensive way to resolve it. You need to find a way to separate the tank, have another tank or rehome one of them.... either of those choices will be cheaper than a vet bill.
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steve
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:41 am   Re: Painted Turtle Attacking RES

There are many times on this forum we talk about this. Yes one is a painted and the other a RES "But" they are "Both" chrysemys class and from the same family emydidae . Also now both are sexual mature ! That urge will happen , sex. I'm talking about similar species having sex "not" procreating together ( having young ) . Even if they were different classes could still happen , that's were we get Hybrids ! Then it may just be simple aggression . Either way separation needed !

Separation is the fix ! Even if you had a 200 gallon tank this will continue. A male and a female can sometimes be worst than two males fighting. Also a 40 gallon for two 4" turtles is very small even for one especially if not full to prevent escape/ maybe ok for one until it grows . Get a second 40 so you can separate.

Sam / male / 4" is harassing Vic / Female / 4" for sex ( sex not procreating ) and this is how most females respond when she is not interested or not ready. It will continue until you separate ! A painted female can get up to 8" requiring a large tank not as big as a female RES which can get 12". The Male RES may only get 6-7"'s needing a smaller tank. Being in an apartment maybe rehome the female so you can have a smaller setup with a male ?
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