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.

Any comments are appreciated.


Thanks
Joe



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Hi, Joe:
Unfortunately I don't have any first-hand experience with having two turtles
living together, but I'm about to. I'm just about done building my turtle
pond and plan to go pick up three Eastern Painteds from a breeder in the
next week or so. While doing my research and asking "turtle people"
questions, I've been told to make sure I get all three about the same age -
otherwise there will be fighting. It seems the big ones pick on the little
ones. I don't know if your two will work things out or if this is a
dangerous situation for the smaller one. Good luck, and keep us posted!
Sue

"joe" wrote in message
...
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.

Any comments are appreciated.


Thanks
Joe



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We don't know if this is normal

Yes. This happened in our pond. One took a big bite out of the other's foot. We
didn't see it until it was healed. They seemed to get along fine after that.


k30a

On Sun, 25 May 2003 16:56:51 -0700, joe wrote:

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.

An older turtle will attack a younger one.

Gender of the larger turtle may be an issue. Do the claws on its
front legs appear unusually long? If so, it is likely a male, and may
simply be courting the new turtle. They can be a little rough at
times. Or, you may have two males: they are sometimes territorial.


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.

Any comments are appreciated.


Thanks
Joe



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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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