Habitat - Indoor :: biting....

[tbs00152]

I have 3 baby turtles. and one of them is a little bit bigger.. she keeps nipping at the other 2 turtles.. what should i do?

[RunninWideOpen]

Most people say it is best to seperate them immediately. Isolate the aggressive one in its own setup.

I have been trying a little "turtle training". Spike has been nipping at Donny occasionally and I've found if I immediately take him out and put him in a dry container for about 5 minutes, then put him back in, it seems to reduce the behavior. I have not yet gotten rid of it 100% though.

Is there anything that might be causing abnormal stress on them and making them more irritated? How big is the tank they are in? How long have they been in that tank? And how big is each turtle? Sometimes a lack of space causes them to get aggressive.

[industrial_girl_2000]

What size tank are they in? What size turtles (length of shell from head to tail)? Ideally, they should have 10gallons per inch of turtle shell. So if you had 2 three-inch turtles, that makes 6 inches of shell total between the 2 of them, and ideally they should be in a 60 gallon tank. This 10-gallon per inch rule helps them not feel like they are living in a tiny closet.

And if there are too many turtles living in a tiny space, they get territorial which is where the fighting comes from. Unfortunately drawing a line down the middle of the tank isn't going to stop it. Getting a bigger tank definitely will. Good luck!

[RunninWideOpen]

Well, I wouldn't say DEFINITELY will, but it would eliminate one thing that causes the biting. Spike didn't start biting UNTIL I put them in the 55gallon. They got along fine in the 20.

[ajozwiak]

Yeah, my turtles were fine in the 20 gallon tank too. It wasn't until I put them in a 55 gallon that they started getting territorial. I don't get it!

[industrial_girl_2000]

Yeah, my turtles were fine in the 20 gallon tank too. It wasn't until I put them in a 55 gallon that they started getting territorial. I don't get it!

In the 20gal they probably didn't have much room to turn around. A bigger tank is always better!

Before I got Sheba's 90gal tank, she was in a 55 gal tank for a very long time. Talk about cramped for space for a 9" long adult turtle, but before I found this site, I had no idea.....

Sheba's attitude in the 90 gal is soooo different than when she was in the 55. She can really stretch out her long arms & legs & actually *swim* from one end of the tank to the other. She doesn't beg to be let out of the tank as much as she used to. In the 55 gal, she used to beg to be let out every day & couldn't even turn around without bumping the side of the tank with her big shell (I let her walk around the living room for several hours & she loved this). Now in the 90, she is pretty content to stay in the tank most of the time. Only begs to be let out when she is hungry (I feed her in a separate pan of water to keep the mess to a minimum in her tank).

So a bigger tank definitely makes them happier & more vibrant.

[megcornell]

I wouldn't say that the increase in tank size made them territorial and aggressive, it may just be that they reached an age when territory became an issue in the larger tank. It could also be that they were too cramped to care in the tiny 20gallon tank and now that they have a little more room they've decided to fight over it.
One thing that seems to help is having something so the turtles aren't always in each others line of sight-- whether you add a lot of plants or get two separate basking docks, a way to get away from each other must be a relief, even if its only an illusion

[RunninWideOpen]

Good ideas Meg. I've been considering making myself another basking dock to see if that helps, but this week they seem to have stopped fighting completely. The one change I made in the tank this week was that I took the grass off the basking ramp. I used to have some tall fake grass, and I noticed they were actually digging in it and looking for something to eat, I decide to take it out, just in case that was why they were fighting. I layed astroturf down instead and I haven't even seen them look at each other funny since.

I think your idea about adding more fake plants might help too. I never thought of that. I took all the fake plants out and put them in the 135. Think I'll go buy some more for the 55.