joe wrote:

Help Please.

We've had a red-eared slider in our pond for several months now. (S)he's
about 8-10" long. Yesterday we bought a second RES, about 5" long and
introduced him into the pond.

Today, for the first time we saw them together and the bigger one seemed to
be attacking the other. We don't know if this is normal - the big one's just
saying who's boss, or if he's trying to kill the small one. It looks like a
pretty serious attack.


Reporting back. Well, I've done some additional research at a couple of
turtle specific sites. Apparently, this is not a unique situation. From the
information I have garnered, it can occur because of territoriality, mating
or just for the sheer fun of picking on a smaller turtle. It is not limited
to when a new turtle is introduced, but can happen after they have been
together for years. The primary means to alleviate the situation seems to be
separating the turtles until they get along. Of course in a pond, this is
kind of tough to do. Most of the comments I found dealt with RES in
aquariums.

We're going to take the small one back and let the other live a solitary
life. We've renamed him Grumpo.


Thanks

Joe



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