General Care Discussion :: Nervous new turtle owner - need advice!

[jrjellybean]

Hi Everyone!
I am so happy I found this site! I have been here several times before reading all the helpful facts about habitat, nutrition, etc. but never noticed the forum section...this is great!
I am in Toronto, Canada and recently became the owner of 2 little red eared sliders. My Mother-In-Law vacations is Florida and this year brought us back the turtles as a gift. From what I've read, my turtles aren't "legal" because I think they're only about 2 inches long. I've never been a pet owner before and I am a very nervous new turtle mommy.
I'm trying to do everything I can to make them most comfortable....I bought the 20 gallon tank, a filter, the specials lamps, a turtle dock, a water heater, a calcium supplement and what I hope is the right food (reptile sticks, trout pellets, dried bloodworms and sometimes cooked chicken). We've only had the turtles about three weeks, they aren't super active and don't seem to bask as much as all the reading material says they should, but I thought everything was going relatively ok until a few days ago.
We've been taking the turtles out of their tank to feed for about 20 minutes every morning. We were putting them in a clean plastic bowl (water is about 5" deep) and feeding them both at the same time. The other morning, the one turtle just turned and chomped on the other turtle's foot. Then, a few minutes later they started fighting, like biting at each other. Nothing like this had ever happened before and it scared me. I reached in and seperated them and then put them in seperate dishes to feed. I thought it was just a one time thing, but then tonight (around 9pm...no where close to feeding time) the one turtle was just resting and the "biting" turtle was swimming around when he all of a sudden decided to just swim up and bite the other one on the foot...again!! I don't think this is healthy behavior, but I also don't think I can afford 2 enclosures...do you think my turtles will be able to get along?? Any advice would help! Thank you in advance!!

[cam722]

Hi and welcome to the forum

First let me say that your turtles are not illegal.. There is no 4" law in Canada Secondly, it's not illegal to OWN turtles under 4".. but it is to sell them .. in the US that is.

As for the aggressive behavior. Have you measured their shells.. without the curve? If they are hatchlings it sounds odd to me that they'd have this aggressive behavior so young. I'm not sure I've heard anyone say that before. Do you have any sort of plants in their tank for them to hide from each other and to have their own space? Is their basking area large enough for both of them to bask at the same time? I'm just wondering if it's not just a need for their own space. btw, during any of the biting incidents did the turtle bleed? If so, you really want to make sure you keep the water very clean.

[steve]

Sounds like they had a long trip. It might have been illegal to bring them over the border, but lets move on

The tank sounds OK so far. You do need to make sure the temperatures are right. Water should be 80° F or 26° C and basking around 90° F or 32° C.

As Carol said, it sounds very early for aggression to show. Males are usually the aggressors among RES. It the attack was particularly violent, then I would consider separating them. Ultimately, you cannot control their attitudes and there may be unpleasant options but you can try the things Carol mentioned.

[missibsu]

Just thought I would mention, even if get the aggression under control right now, it doesn't mean that it won't come back later. There is always going to be the risk that they are going to have to be seperated.