General Care Discussion :: Turtle laid eggs, now aggressive.

[rockyntrixi]

My female turtle just laid her 'first' eggs and now she is being aggressive to the other turtle in the tank. She will vibrate her claws on him, but then she will try to bite his face, claws, and shell. She has never behaved this way before and the only other difference I have noticed in her is that she is overly hungry. Tonight when she started biting the male, I fed her and she calmed down and went to bed. Does anyone have any comments?

[theartbook35]

Are you certain she laid all of her eggs? Sometimes females will pause egg laying because an egg is either stuck inside of her, or if she is spooked while laying. A female's temperament changes a lot when gravid and while laying eggs. Being overly hungry is a classic gravid behavior.

She might also not want to become gravid again, and might be fighting off any advances from the male.

Have they always shared a tank, or, have they been together a short time?

The only "minor solution/advice" I can offer is that I just read recently that gravid turtles will consume cuttlebone like crazy. My female, even though she definitely is way to young and small to have eggs, gets very upset and even starts actinglike a bully if she doesn't have cuttlebone in that tank. Maybe put in some extra cuttlebone, and see what it does.

[rockyntrixi]

They have been in a shared tank since day one. I think she has laid all her eggs since her behavior has changed dramatically (if that is a sign).

I am trying the cuttlebone idea right now and she is running from the other side of the tank to attack it at this very minute.

[steve]

If things haven't settled by now, then you really need to keep them physically separate. It's a real difficult thing to do, but it's absolutely necessary.