General Care Discussion :: Confused about this "aggression"

[turtlefreak]

I know I have made a very similar topic to this, but I'm still not that clear on it.

I've gotten both of my male turtles, Timmy(7 inch) and Danny(5 inch), about over 5 years ago when they were just babies. They have been living with each other throughout the years. They started to flutter at each other for some time now. (I have mistaken it for "mating" from previous books I have read before I stumbled upon this site and learned it is aggression) Soon Timmy started to bite Danny and getting help from this site, I learned that it was needed to separate them.

The two turtles swim around each other and try to do each other and show their thingys.... Is it possible for them to mistaken each other as their opposite gender? From books and sources that I have read, their behavior is recognized as mating rituals and courtship. Recently I just got a bigger tank(it's still not the full size they need, but it was the biggest my parents would give me ), and so I thought it'd solve the problem by putting them together again, but nothing changed, they still flutter and Timmy still bites. So I separated them again. I am still confident that it is aggression and not mating since they're both males, but er..is trying to "do" each other part of the aggression and why do they show their thingys if it's not trying to impress a female but instead fighting? o_o

And also I have heard that putting a female turtle in will distract the males from each other. I do have a female turtle, but the two males totally ignore her.

[Cramer]

My females have done "mating rituals" of finger-fluttering and even mounting. I don't know what goes on in a turtles head, but it's usually accompanied by a quick territorial scuffle. My big one will sometimes swim down and push the smaller down, hard into the rocks (when I had river rock) and hold it there for a sec and then swim away. As if reminding it who's boss when she starts to get a little too big for her proverbial britches.

Since you have males, it'll be worse.

[megcornell]

Adding another turtle won't solve the problem, it will just make them all feel even more cramped and more aggression will ensue.
The "mating ritual" you're seeing isn't coming from the turtles' attraction to each other, it's one trying to dominate the other.
Keeping them separated is the best thing you can do. What size tanks do you have them in now?

[industrial_girl_2000]

If they are biting each other, it is a sign of aggression, plain & simple. There is no such thing as "gay" in the wild since the animals have an instinct to procreate (they don't just pair up for "love", LOL).

The biting/fighting will eventually get worse & worse until one of them ends up at the vet's office. Trust me on this. I went thru this many years ago. The fighting got so bad that I had to always allow one to walk around the living room while the other one was in the tank. I had to turn the lights off at night before I put them together, and then I had to get up very early in the morning (before they saw each other) to separate them again. If they saw each other, the fighting would start & the noise of one chasing the other around would honestly wake the dead as they chased each other & ran into the walls of the tank. At one point, one of them ended up with a sprained arm. Another time, the male's tail was dislocated from being bitten. I was really worried that one of them would sustain a very bad injury. I eventually had to give one of the turtles away & life has been peaceful ever since.

And I had a boy & girl, not 2 boys as you do. So it can affect the opposite sexes too. Just do yourself a favor & keep them separated.

[turtlefreak]

Im not letting them go near each other ever again o_o

The new tank is currently 75 gallons. It was hard enough to convince my parents to even consider a new tank @_@

[april zephyr]

Aw man, I have three. Is separation always inevitable? Even after they had grown up together? What is the recommended age/size for separation before aggression begins?

[octpusgirl8]

It's not inevitable, but very likely. Having an appropriately large tank can help, but not always. Even if they do get along well, a tank big enough for 3 adult turtles would be pretty huge. It's hard to tell when agression might start, but it frequently begins around sexul maturity (~4") If you have multiple turtles it's best to be prepared for it before it starts.