General Care Discussion

Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:26 pm **Shoving**

i went over to my friends house and saw his 170 gal tank with 3 5 in res in it. they had a LARGE (and i mean large) basking area. when two of them came onto the dock the started to shove each other like they we two goats ramming each other. and they kept it up until one got off. and the biggest wone would do this to the smaler ones. is this normal turtle behavior

Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:54 pm

usually they stack them selfs on top of one another, this shoving is new to me

Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:28 pm

I only have one turtle so I wouldn't know about shoving, but it sounds like 'fighting' for the best spot. You may want to tell your friend to separate them. Turtles are generally solitary animals and do better in their own tanks. They may start fighting and picking on each other, your friend may end up with injured turtles.

Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:46 am

oooohh

Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:33 pm

It could just be that one was trying to get to the spot that the other turtle was. If thier not fighting in any other way, and everyone is still able to bask I wouldn't think that there would be a need to seperate them.

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:27 am

maybe a second basking light ????

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:35 pm

hmmm thats probably the reason....i gues they dont know how to stack on top of each other or something....anyhoo ill advise him to put another basking dock and light in his tank (its huge)

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:13 am

2 basking areas, one at each end of tank, would probably help. Let us know how it works out.

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:41 am

How big is the basking area? Rather than two, I'd increase the size of the one if it's not big enough.

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 12:36 am

he got another basking area but they are still SHOVING!!! one came up on the other dock and then the other one swam from its dock and shoved it off and started chasing it. the strang thing is 1s a male and 1s a female..... mabey he should separate them.....hmmm.

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:48 am

Probably that's the best solution. Expensive to do, but better than having one injure the other, that could be even more costly in vet bills or worse. If the one that's getting booted off the dock isn't able to bask because of it, well, we all know the health risks in that. Maybe your friend could keep the two mellow ones in together and get the aggressive one his/her own set up?

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:56 pm

I had the same problem with my Res's when I first got them. I spoke with a vet that said that 2 male's will sometimes be competitive. He advised me to seperate them for a while and then put them back together. They will either get over their competitiveness or they won't. Mine did (I have 2). Just watch them for any excessive fighting and if this occurs you may have to seperate them permanently.

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:33 pm

well the shoving stopped... but they still chase each other around

General Care Discussion :: Shoving

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