Habitat - Outdoor :: 3 new friends

Ponds and other outdoor enclosures.

Post Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:37 pm   3 new friends

We have 3 RES and just were given 3 more. All female, generally the same size. One of my "old" turtles has been nipping at everyone, the originals and the newbies. Is she reacting to the population change? Is she going to calm down? They're in a 5 X 5 outdoor pond about 4 or 5 feet deep.
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:08 am   Re: 3 new friends

Welcome to the forum! Does sound like she doesn't like these new changes. Hopefully she settles down, otherwise it'll be pretty stressful in there.
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:59 am   Re: 3 new friends

Hi from Piggley and me !

All generally the same size , that’s good. That older one may be saying me first , me first ! Being territorial and exerting her dominance over the 750 gallons of the pond. Was ok to her with only two other roommates but now five roommates another story. If all are juveniles and in inches about the same size they may have time to adjust to each other hopefully so. I found size normally dictate's everything more than age. Problem is one growing faster / much larger normally becomes the main aggressor. Years before Hurricane Katrina I had to add on to my pond making it 10x15x3 // around 4000 gallons and all my problem’s stopped . This gave all a special private area of there own. Was four adult female’s , one juvenile female and one very happy adult male all RES’s with four adult Koi and simple feeder fish. If yours still has growth to do , that’s depending on there DNA , a 5x5x4 is about 750 gallons , a 5x5x5 is about 935 gallons which may cause the aggression to continue and one ending up hurt , when all are adult size. Could you go 1200 gallons or maybe larger, that for adults would help them all get along better and have there own space ? Extending a shallow ledge around what you have now about a foot or two deep can be done easy for more room. One thing I also found not all turtles have the same personality and get along in a small environment.. Observe carefully and be planning to enlarge and or separate the problem one if needed. Also “hopefully not” but for a natural disaster have a plan for them. I lost all , RIP , to Hurricane Katrina. Nine feet flood water on pond for 21 days. Never found part of the house all we walked away with was the cloths on our backs. Today it’s only Piggley indoors with me .
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