General Care Discussion :: Co-Habiting

[UniversityGirl]

So I got two RES turtles two years ago, at the same time, Champski and Feet. Chamski is a good 1-2 inches bigger than Feet and recently I find that Champski has been being extra aggressive with Feet and has been biting quite a bit. We just introduced to them to a bigger tank and I had hoped that would decrease Champski aggressiveness towards Feet.
Feet has some raw skin on his neck where Champski has been biting him.
Anyways, Champski is still being aggressive. We cannot afford to have two seperate tanks and maintain both. We are students.
Should I give it a few days? Or give one of them away? (I really don;t want to give one away, I'm very fond of them both!)

[roseK]

more time could just allow the one to kill the other. your only option is to seperate them

[marisa]

Is the tank big enough so that it can be divided in half and each would have a reasonable-size space to swim in? If the tank were divided, you would still need to provide each turtle with a basking area and proper lighting.

It would be good to start putting some antibiotic ointment on the raw wound to help it heal.

[bigG]

If the tank is large enough, you might be able to obtain or purchase a piece of plexiglass (or other material) that would divide the tank into two areas. My older female has "scolded" my younger male but has never bit him.

[UniversityGirl]

So we started feeding them seperately and since then there has been no serious snapping. They seem like very happy turtles and even swim into their feeding bowls.

[marisa]

Feeding bowls???

[gianoshoes]

You still might want to be careful. The same thing started happening with my two painteds who lived together since they were babies. It got worse and worse for mine: Wally just started following Pie around and coming up behind her while looking intently at the back of her neck. It escalated to nipping and bullying and I had to separate.
If you are unwilling to separate, then have more hiding spots and areas where they can get away from each other, this works best if you have adequate space. Or separate the tank with a divider . The best and safest course of action is to separate them. sorry

[UniversityGirl]

Yes, feeding bowls, we put them in bowls and they eat in them and sit and relax until they poop and then back in the big tank or outside in the pool, depending on how warm it is outside.

[UniversityGirl]

And to gianoshoes, this happened in April, and it hasnt happened since so I'm sure its fine, I was just updating.