General Care Discussion :: Fighting turtles

[deathdealer99]

I have two red ear slider's and one is larger than the other and is always bullying the smaller one. The larger one keeps snapping at it and has bitten of several of the smaller one's fingers/claws. I am not sure if they should be separated or why the larger one is being abusive. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[jenaero]

I think, to avoid serious injury they should be separated asap.

[TNTurtles]

my turts used to be a little aggressive (larger towards the smaller one) when i fed them both at the same time in the tank. When i started feeding them outside of the tank seperatly, the aggression inside the tank was gone. you might want to try it.

[DanielRES1180]

My turtles aren't agressive towards each other. They occasionally will bite each other fighting over food and that's pretty much the only reason they fight each other.

[missibsu]

deathdealer...how big are your turtles, and how big is your set up? If there is not enough room, it will only get worse.

[marisa]

Welcome. How much larger is the one turtle (and what is the size of the smaller one)? What size tank are they in? RES are territorial, and if their tank size is inadequate, bullying/agression is likely...If they are in an adequate-size tank (measure down the back of each from the scute/plate behind the head to the ones above the tail, don't include the curve of the shells and add the two lengths together---two 4-inch turtles, should ideally be in an 80-gallon tank, for example), are their places for the one turtle to go to to get away from the other one?

If they're in a too-small tank, you really should separate them, the sooner the better. Bitten off fingers/claws now sound like there could be worse injuries to come. Even if there were no actual injuries, the bullying is stressing the one turtle, which will affect his health at some point.