General Care Discussion :: *sigh* training not yet succesful

[RunninWideOpen]

So, you may remember on a previous post I said I was trying to train Spike to not bite Donny by taking him out of the tank everytime he did it. It seemed like it was working, went a couple weeks with no biting, at least while one of us was home. Friday night, thought, Spike started it back up.

Just wanted to let ya'll know I am thus far unsuccessful, but I'm not giving up. Well, it's kinda wierd. It does seem to be successful when it comes to food. Spike is no longer aggressive when it comes to food. It just hasn't worked for the basking platform yet.

Next thing I'm trying is to put Spike back into the 20gal to let Donny develop some territory in the 55gal. I've also found much success with keeping fish alive by putting them in there a good day before the turtles. So, I'm going to keep Spike in the 20gal for about a week. Hopefully once I put him back in the 55 he will leave Donny alone.

If that doesn't work I will come up with something else to try. I just know I can't constantly maintain 3 tanks. Too expensive and time consuming.

[SpotsMama]

Too bad. I was just telling my husband about it.

[RunninWideOpen]

does anyone know if there is a natural temperament difference between MAPs and RES?

[RunninWideOpen]

Hm, I appear to have the opposite problem. All my RES are calm, mellow turts. My MAP is the spazzy and aggressive one. I hope he'll grow out of it. He's only 2 inches right now. He's grown about 1/16" since I got him a month ago. Donny on the other hand has grown almost 1/4".

Spike really is spazzy too. It's wierd. He'll sit on the basking ramp, then speed over and sit on the veggie clip, and speed over and sit on a rock.....he's all over the place and always swims full speed. But he only gets aggressive with Donny around the basking platform.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I used to have a severe aggression problem when I had 2 turts (Sheba & Nelson, girl & boy, respectively). I had to eventually just let one turtle out to walk for 8 hours while the other one stayed in the tank, then swap & let the other one walk in my living room. At night they would be together, but I would make sure to turn the light off so they didn't see each other & start fighting again. I did this for 2 yrs till I finally just gave up & had to give away Nelson to a friend. It got to be too much of a hassle in the long run.

In my case, the agression between the 2 was so bad that Sheba once bit Nelson on the tail, spraining it. Another time, he was fluttering his long nails in her face, & she finally got annoyed & lashed out (snapped at him) and bit one of his nails off (all the way down to the root)!!!!. He lost several nails during their constant fighting. Another time, she snapped at his arm & sprained it. One time, Sheba was up on the platform, and Nelson came along, grabbed her leg & yanked her down from the platform into the water (and she was bigger than him!!). Overall, it just got to be too dangerous for both of them so they had to be separated.

[marisa]

Sorry, but I'm not convinced that turtles can be trained not to bite one another. Distance (larger living space) and separation are the most effect ways to stop the behavior.

[RunninWideOpen]

Well, I'm going to keep trying. It worked with Squirt.....well, she stopped nipping at Crush anyway, whether it was the training or not... ? Now those two are like best friends.

Spike only started doing it once I gave them larger living space. They were fine in the 20gal tank together, but when I put them in the 55 he got real territorial about the basking ramp.

[steve]

Good luck. I don't think training/conditioning works because there a lot of things that can cause aggression... hopefully it's temporary. After I've seen my male RES bite, I can never leave him alone with another turtle.

[Kayra33]

I've never seen my RES bite anything. Occasionally she'll hiss at nothing before she gets on her basking area. But she's alone, I couldn't imagine having another one. She makes enough of a mess! She likes to carry around everything in her tank. She just likes a plain tank.

[RunninWideOpen]

Okay, after a week I put Spike back in and he nipped Donny, so the week of solitude didn't help. On the bright side, Donny did defend himself this time.

I have found something that seems to be working though, which is what I was doing in the very beginning. When I see Spike nip, I take him out and put him in a DRY container. It was a mistake to start putting him in the 20gal, that was probably more like a reward. Now that I have been putting him in the dry container, I see him do it less and less and less. So far have not seen him do it today at all. Seems like we're making progress again!

[RunninWideOpen]

Oh, and for 2 days now they have been basking together peacefully. First time they've basked together since I put them in the 55 gallon.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Okay, after a week I put Spike back in and he nipped Donny, so the week of solitude didn't help. On the bright side, Donny did defend himself this time.

I have found something that seems to be working though, which is what I was doing in the very beginning. When I see Spike nip, I take him out and put him in a DRY container. It was a mistake to start putting him in the 20gal, that was probably more like a reward. Now that I have been putting him in the dry container, I see him do it less and less and less. So far have not seen him do it today at all. Seems like we're making progress again!

I used to separate my two turtles during the day when they were fighting like crazy many yrs ago. In my case it was Sheba (6" fem) vs. Nelson(3.5" male) & on any given day, one would bite/fight, while the other would try to defend himself. Nelson ended up with a sprained tail at one point, as well as several nails that were bitten off all the way down to the root. Sheba ended up with bit marks on her arms & on her neck. The constant fighting was so loud/intrusive as their shells banged against the tank that I had to let one out for 8 hours to walk around the house, then put them together in the tank at night, when they couldn't see each other. This went on for 2 yrs until I finally just gave up & gave Nelson away to one of my friends who wanted a pet.

I think you did the right thing by getting the 55 gal tank for your 2 little turtles. But I think in time you will start to see more fighting/territorial behavior as they get too big to cohabit in the 55 gal tank. Good luck.

[Hoooneylynn]

looks like you need to seperate them.

[RunninWideOpen]

Well, I don't know. I haven't seen any aggression in a few days now. Today they've been basking together and swimming around together much like my other 2 do. Before they would kinda avoid each other. I think I'm making progress.