General Care Discussion :: Stunted turtle or different breed?

[Telmob]

During the summer, I saved a second turtle from someone I knew who had won it from a school fair. He kept the baby turtle in a 5 gallon tank for a month or so until i convinced him to give it to me.

It moved to a big 90gallon tank with my turtle (who is technically younger then him). Mr.T(original turtle) is about a year old, where they both had a varied diet and an appropriate basking area with both UVB and UVA.

Problem: The new turtle (winston) hasnt grown at all since ive had him, and its been about....maybe 6-7 months. This turtle hasnt grown a cm in shell length, as opposed to Mr.T who is getting nice and big.



Is this turtle stunted or am I missing something, this turtle has orange on the side of its head, not red. I think its still a RES though, ill take pics if needed.


Also, Mr.T has shown signs of trying to court the smaller turtle, aka tickling its face (saw it today), I hope this wont be a major issue :s



Thanks for listening and the future help

[wiccabrat]

Chances are it's dominance not courting. How big are they?

[Telmob]

the big one is around 6 inches and about a year old.

The other is about an inch and a half, and sadly, most likely older then the bigger turtle


I dont think it would be dominance, the big one did the courting sign of 'tickling' to her :s

[marisa]

Putting turtles of significantly different sizes (like yours are) is chancy, and not advised. The larger one fluttering at the smaller one is most likely doing it to establish dominance, and I'd really keep an eye on it to see that it doesn't escalate or turn to something worse. A turtle that's continually being bullied will be a stressed turtle, and this in turn will eventually affect health (and growth).

Are they fed together? If so, do you watch to see that the larger one isn't hogging the food?

[wiccabrat]

Fluttering is as much a sign of dominance as mating. I really don't think having them together is smart when there's that big of a size difference. You may come in one day to find the smaller one missing pieces.

[Telmob]

we'll....thats no fun

thank you for your advise

[mike hill]

T-mob -- Make sure they both is getting the proper amount of food. One may be pigging if from the other. Good luck in putting two together. They sometime don't get along.

[rsour24]

pictures would help