One turtle is biting, help?

[kal777]

i have 3 Murray Shortneck turtles, one adult and 2 smaller ones. the adult has his own tank and the two smaller ones share a tank since we got them from the same petshop from the same tank. up until a month ago everything was fine but then one of the smaller turtles started to bite the other one. at first it wasnt too bad and i thought it might have to do with food, but now its getting to the point were the other smaller turtle (the one getting bitten) is getting some nasty looking marks from the biting.

so today i stuck the biting turtle in with our adult thinking that a smaller turtle would never try to bite something 4-5 times its size, and guess what, it tried to bite the adult.

is there any reason why this might have happened all the sudden? and is there any fix other than separating the two smaller ones/getting rid of one of the smaller ones?

 

[JAS101]

how big of a tank are the smaller 2 in ?

 

[kal777]

its a 2 foot tank. so by rights it should be big enough. when this first started they were in a 1.5foot tank and i thought that might be the reason so we got a larger tank but its still happening

 

[JAS101]

its a 2 foot tank. so by rights it should be big enough. when this first started they were in a 1.5foot tank and i thought that might be the reason so we got a larger tank but its still happening

how big are the turtles ? 5 cm, 10 cm [ shell size]

 

[kal777]

id say maybe 5-6cm

 

[JAS101]

pretty well i have found the only way to stop turtles fighting is to seperate them [ kind of why i have 4 ponds but only 7 eastern long necks turtles]

 

[Kristy_07]

Turtles don't really need "friends". Actually, if you're keeping more than one together, they are going to see each other as competition, not company. Unfortunately, it sounds like one of your little turtles is just hell-bent on winning the competition, even if that means playing rough. If they were mine, I'd be looking to separate him from the other two, and keep a close eye on the bites to the other two turtles. If your husbandry is spot on, you might be able to avoid infection!

 

[kal777]

i dont think the bites are infection causing, they dont seem to be really breaking the skin, more just pulling at it. so seems only option is to separate or give one away.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Can you put the non biting one in with the adult and leave the nasty fella on his own

 

[Kristy_07]

Snakeynewbie, don't forget they'll see each other as competition. So if you put the less aggressive one in with the big one, there's a good chance the big one will take all the food, basking spots etc. and the smaller one will be very stressed.

 

[snakeynewbie]

I'm aware of that but only the OP can see their behavior and know whether they are getting along, so much depends on the temperaments of the three animals involved.

 

[kal777]

@Snakeynewbie: if you read my opening post you would see that i did put the biting turtle in with the adult, but the little one tried to bite the adult turtle, go figure. id have thought that a smaller turtle would be too scared of something the size of a plate to try and bite it.

is there anyone who may be interested in giving a Murray Shotneck turtle a good home around Adelaide? i would stick it up on gumtree but i would hate to have it go to a home that doesnt look after him. i dont really want to have another tank set up, running out of room as it is with all the pets.

 

[JAS101]

@Snakeynewbie: if you read my opening post you would see that i did put the biting turtle in with the adult, but the little one tried to bite the adult turtle, go figure. id have thought that a smaller turtle would be too scared of something the size of a plate to try and bite it.

is there anyone who may be interested in giving a Murray Shotneck turtle a good home around Adelaide? i would stick it up on gumtree but i would hate to have it go to a home that doesnt look after him. i dont really want to have another tank set up, running out of room as it is with all the pets.

yeah but Snakeynewbie is talking about puting the non biting small turtle in with the adult , and leaving the bity small turtle by its self ... it may work it has with my turtles .

 

[Bel03]

yeah but Snakeynewbie is talking about puting the non biting small turtle in with the adult , and leaving the bity small turtle by its self ... it may work it has with my turtles .

The big turtle could still 'steal' all from the little one though!

 

[JAS101]

The big turtle could still 'steal' all from the little one though!

still worth a try , other then geting rid of one .

 

[RSPcrazy]

I've had this same thing happen.
I had 2 short necks (from hatchlings) in the same tank, they were fine untill they got a bit bigger, then one of them starting biting the other. It got to the point where the nippy one started biting off the other ones toes (they did grow back).

What I did notice when they got bigger, was the nippy one was a boy and the one loosing it's toes was a girl, I'm not sure if the sex of them is relevant to the biting, but it's worth mentioning.

The nippy one did stop biting once it got bigger, I'm not sure if it was just a faze he went through while growing, or if something else was in play here, but it did stop.

They were in a meter x meter x meter tank.