I had to separate some turtles last night due to what appears to be bites on the neck. The bites are believed to have been caused by another 6” RES she was “rooming” with on a short term basis.
Laverne and Shirley had lived together in peace for ever (as far as we know) - at least the last 1.5 years they have lived with us.
Rosa, the accused biter, had her own tank and always had.
Our basement flooded, and in an emergency situation, I put all three in one tank. (I had posted a thread about it last week.)
So - here and there, we saw what we thought was just a little "nipping" from Rosa every now and then. I really didn't think it was that bad or that anybody would get injured. I had seen her nip at toes and necks once or twice (didn't think she was "landing her blows")
Then I saw what looked like a white patch on Lavern’s skin on the top / back of her neck behind her shell. I was watching her skin for any weird skin conditions, and I thought maybe she was rubbing her shin on sharp scutes? She had really bad retained scutes when we got her, and she is finally just now having a good shed - so she does have those sharp scutes right behind her head.
Then Rosa came along and nipped at the back of her neck and I took an even closer look at the neck - there are now multiple little white spots on the back / top of her neck right behind her head. It appears to be multiple bites as far as I can tell. It's as if the injury (the little white spots) is still in the skin, the bight goes through the green layer down to white. The worst of them is down to flesh - there is pink flesh in the center of the mostly white wound.
Questions - Is my assessment of the situation correct? Are we sure these are bites, or is there a chance it could be some other skin condition (rubs from the shell?) FWIW – I’m pretty sure they are bites.
Here's what I did last night. Separated them - I set up the other tank, immediately and put Lavern (the injured turt) and Shirley (her longtime tank mate) in the newly set up tank so they’d have the cleanest water. I don't think Shirley will bother Lavern, and I wanted to get them both away from Rosa who was the aggressor here and I fear they are both at risk if left with her.
After searching around a bit today, I plan to:
Dry dock Lavern in a dry 20 long for a while (how long? 1 hour to dry out well? is room temp okay?)
Apply Neosporin to her wounds once she's dry off.
Leave her in dry dock for a while longer to allow the ointment to soak in a bit (again - how long? Another hour?)
return her to her clean tank, and make even more of an effort than usual to maintain clean water.
I feel horrible. They should have been separated at the first sign of aggression. I somehow thought that if Rosa bit Lavern enough that it hurt her, she would retaliate and I’d see a turtle fight start to develop and know they had to be separated. It wasn’t like that. The turtle that was being bitten did not retaliate, or really even go hide. She kind of “took it” much more than I expected and I didn’t realize she was sustaining injury. Lesson learned.
Here’s the usual Q & A in case any of this applies. Thanks for reading, and any help is appreciated.
How big is your turtle? - 6.5"
How long have you had it? - almost 2 years
What is the water temperature? - 76 deg
Did you use a thermometer? - yes
Are you using a water heater? - yes
How much water is in there? - 45 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? - no
Are you using any filtration? - yes
What is the basking temperature? - 90 deg
Is there a basking light? - yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? - yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? - 2 (stacked) zoo-med floating turtle docks - largest size
Is there a UVB light? - yes
What have you been trying to feed it? - red lettuce, pellets, cuttle bone
When was the last time your turtle ate? - yesterday
How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? - 75 gallon
Is the tank near a window? - No
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? - No
Have you read the Basic Care section? - Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? - Yes
Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? - No
