General Care Discussion :: Aggression

[JennieKH]

Hi! My name is Jennie, and I'm new here. I have had Milo for about a year and a half. He has always been a very "sweet" turtle. But for Christmas, we got him a new basking platform, that is called the "Turtle Topper". It has a ramp that he can walk up and sit under his lamp, without fear of being able to climb on the edge and jump off (which he did, NUMEROUS times)
But ever since we got the topper, he has been SO aggressive. When I come near the tank, when he's in the water, he nearly jumps out of the water trying to bite me. He used to take little nips at my fingers if I let him, but he never acted like he does now. He bit me twice this morning, and really latched on, I almost couldn't get my finger loose! I am really worried that I made him mad by changing his habitat. He used to be able to sit precariously on the edge of his tank, and be a part of the family, but it was SOOO dangerous. Now I think he resents it and he is taking it out on me by attacking me! What should I do??

[vear]

Oh my GOD!!! hahhha, that picture gives me chills. I highly doubt he's trying to take revenge on you or anything, turtles don't really get "mad" at people. My RES always tries to bite, but only b/c he thinks I have food!

[Joao]

It took my RES a couple of weeks to get used to the turtle topper. I can see why, though. Its this huge house set on top of a tank that is all closed off. It must be pretty scary for a turtle who is used to a wide open floating dock.

I didn't have an agression problem, but homie was pretty jumpy for a while when I switched to the turtle topper. Give it a few weeks and maybe he will calm down.

[steve]

Hi Jennie, does she (your RES looks like a girl) use the topper? If she doesn't, I'd seek out an alternative.

As for the aggression, I can't explain it. I've heard of turtles becoming aggressive to their tank mates when moved into a new tank but their behavior toward people are the same. Maybe she's looking for more attention?

[JennieKH]

Thanks y'all! Yes, he gets in the topper now, and I think he likes it. I put a rock in there so he could get a little higher up and look out. He stretches his neck up pretty high so he can see us, and I swear he looks sad because he's enclosed and not out with us like he used to be. If you think that picture was scary, you should see the one (that I can't find) with his legs all the way out of the tank, just sitting on the very edge. I put a soft landing below, b/c he got out more than once. That's why I got the topper.
Also, how can I tell if "he" is a male or female? He was purchased for my son's classroom over 2 years ago, and they named him Milo and assumed he was male. Even if he's a girl, we will always think of him as Milo the boy turtle

[steve]

This page should help you find out: http://www.redearslider.com/determining_sex.html