General Care Discussion :: Turtle Conflict?

[PChase]

Hey everyone! I have two red eared sliders, one male (Oliver) and one female (Shelly). The male is almost 7 inches long and the female is now at 6.5 inches long. It’s only been over the span of these last couple weeks that I’ve noticed a lot of aggressive behavior between the two. After shutting the lights off for bed, we heard a lot of loud clunking hitting a side of the tank. When we turned the light on, Oliver had a firm bite on Shelly’s leg. We kept them separated and tried to do our research on what could be happening. During the day, Oliver will flutter his nails at Shelly and she’ll react by biting at his nails and chasing him around the tank, and at night (again) I had to separate the two after catching Oliver biting and holding onto her back leg. They’re in a 55 gallon tank, and they’ve never been aggressive toward each other like this before. Oliver is a spaz to begin with, but Shelly used to be calm and wouldn’t be bothered by Oliver fluttering his nails at her. I have checked, too, and she isn’t carrying any eggs so we know she isn’t pregnant. I’m not sure what is going on, but I see a lot of “worst case scenario” that they’ll fight to the death and no one wants to see that, but at the same time I hate to keep them separated in a whole other tank and buy a setup for that tank as well. Any advice or ideas as to what should be done (or is going on) would be super helpful.

[steve]

Unfortunately it is time to separate. Both male and females can be aggressive, but almost all male RES become so. It might subside a little, but it eventually escalates and there is no point in delaying because you could be looking at vet bills and permanent injuries. You can rehome one, or look at a larger tank that can be divided, but they need physical separation. My male RES will even go after my female RES even if he just sees her.