Urgent Care :: Turtle cannibalism

[Heyitspalac]

I have two RES one male and one female about 3 years old. On the female her back right foot looks like it has been chewed on. She hides her foot whenever the male is by that foot. Right now I have them in separate tanks but would like to have them both in the same one. They have been eating well though and behave normal in other senses.

[missibsu]

RES can be territorial. If the tank is not large enough (or other reasons) one turtle may try to harm the other. The best thing you can do is separate them. Rule of thumb for habitat size is 10 gallons per inch of straight shell length. If you haven't met those requirements, then that is probably the reason for your problem. If that is fixed, then you can try to put them back together, keeping a careful eye on them. If you already have a suitable habitat, then it could just be that they don't get along. That is one issue that owners of multiple turtles need to be prepared for.

Are your RES the same size?

Are you sure that the injury came from the other turtle? Look to see what else she might have gotten injured on.

[Heyitspalac]

Yes I actually just bought a new larger habitat for them due to the tank that they were in being to small so I could see how they could get annoyed with each other. They're about the same size now even though the female is still alittle bit bigger but she used to be an inch bigger than the male. I'm pretty sure it was the male that did the damage since she freaks out whenever he's by that leg.

[missibsu]

Once the aggression has started there is nothing to say that it will ever go away...even with a bigger habitat. I would think it best to keep them separated.

Also with the injured turt it wouldn't hurt to raise the water temps a few degrees (around 80F) to help cut down the risk of infection. Oh, and make sure the water stays very clean.

[TurtleBot]

Keep us posted on their behavior!

[marisa]

Males can get aggressive, especially if a female isn't interested in them and they're interested in the female (don't know if this is happening here, though). I would separate the female and treat the wounded foot (run some clean water over it and apply Neosporin, let her out of the tank for about 30 min. to let some of it absorb). Before you put them back together make sure they're tank size is adequate and there are objects in the tank to break up their sight lines of each other. If the tank size is adequate and the male is still being aggressive, they make have to live separately.