Habitat - Indoor :: Putting turtles together

[8tekent3]

Hi I'm new here just have a question need advice from other res owners. K 4 years ago I rescued a hatchling turtle from a thrift store for 8 bucks it was in a tiny critter keeper with a small bag of food. Of course I put crush in a 20 gallon as soon as I got home. Anyways crush has never really seen another turtle and always had her own tank. Last year I adopted a older res from craigslist and tried to keep them together in a 50 gallon. They seem to not really mind each other at first then I saw crush get towards the back of Mary Jane(adopted res) and seem to try to bite her. They also go face to face and do that mating dance or whatever it is. I want to put them together but the size difference I don't want Mary to kill crush. With at least a 75 gallon do you think I can introduce them. Also Mary is very shy and skiddish and recently was snapping at me when I had to relocate her. Last owners didn't seem to pay much attention to her. Should I take them out every once in awhile so they can meet. Right now and ever since I got Mary they have been seperated in there own tanks. Thanks for reading. Turtles rule.

Crush 4 yrs in October. 4 to 5 inch shell
Mary Jane age unknown 6 to 7 inch shell

[steve]

Crush, being a mature male, will probably stay aggressive to other turtles. From what I've seen, it only escalates and this is not behavior you can stop. My male RES will even attack my female RES when out of water, so even outside I have to keep them separate.

So, you can try to do supervised meetings but I have not seen it work. Once aggression starts, it usually comes back more intensely than before.

[8tekent3]

I always thought crush was a female and the other turtle I adopted is female. Crush is 4 years old in October still might be top early to tell the sex. Thanks for the reply I figured it wasnt going to work out when they first started fighting. I was thinking about buying a small res from the pet store to put with crush since they would be about the same age. But guess it all depends on if crush is a male.

[steve]

RES females can be aggressive as well, but it seems the males would always be. From what you mentioned with the rear positioning, he might have been trying to mate. And 4 years @ 4-5" would be consistent with a male's size.