A few months ago, I posted about an aggressive female in a 200 gallon pond with three female RES's, only one of which she harassed. Based on advice I got from the CA Turtle Club, I removed the "victim," who had injuries and adopted her out to the Turtle Club.
Shortly thereafter, the dominant female began going after the other two, one in particular (the one closest to her size). This time, there were a couple of differences:
1. It was ocassional, maybe a couple of times a day, and not constant.
2. The other turtles are more nimble and faster than her and get away without being bitten.
3. One turtle in particular seems to egg her on, rather than avoiding her by staying elsewhere in the pond.
4. They bask together in peace.
I guess I could go ahead and adopt out the aggressive female, but:
A. If I replace her with another one---a rescue that I would exchange her for---what is to say that the problem pops up again with either the new one being the aggressor, or one of the resident turtles deciding to exercize territoriality on the newbie? and
B. If I don't replace her, what is to say one of the resident females won't decide to pick on the other one?
In short, this might just be a chronic issue when keeping more than one RES (even all females, which I was assured would end my concerns a few years ago!). Perhaps my attitude should be that as long as nobody is getting injured, just let it be.
After all, we humans have to put up with obnoxious people, sometimes bullies, all the time, but we learn how to live with it, as long as it's just annoying and not dangerous. Any insights?
