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Hi,

I have 2 red eared sliders (~ 10 months old) in a 40 gallon breeder tank with an Eheim canister filter. They are a male and a female. I got them when they were hatchlings and now the male is about 4 inches and the female is almost 5 inches. They have gotten along great until about 2 weeks ago when I noticed the female picking on and biting at the male's back feet. It wasn't too bad at first but in the past week it has gotten pretty bad to the point where I have separated them. My question is this: the male has been nipped at alot on it's back feet and they are kinda raw/caloused looking on the heel area (thats the best way I can describe the location) He is acting normal, eating, basking, etc but I am wondering if I need to take him to the vet to get antibiotics or something so that he doesn't end up with an infection or anything like that or am I just being too overly protective? Once again, he is acting normal but I am not sure if turtles tend to hide pain the way alot of other animals do. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!

So long as his feet don't get swollen and infected he should be fine now that you've separated them. Make sure his water is extra clean. You can apply an antibiotic ointment to the cuts to help them heal.

Thank you so much for your response! His feet do not look swollen and the water in his tank is super clean at the moment. I make sure to do weekly water changes and I also just did a major cleaning job on the rocks, replaced filter media and pads, cleaned pump head, and all that fun stuff on Saturday so I feel pretty confident that he should be ok as far as the water quality goes. You also mentioned antiobiotic ointment? What kind is safe to use? Is Neosporin or something of that nature safe for turtles? Thanks again! =)

You can use Neosporin or Walmart's Triple Antibiotic Ointment or something similar. After you put some on his feet, keep him dry for 10 or 15 minutes to give it a chance to soak in. Repeat a couple of times a day. As advised above, please keep the water very clean and if the cuts start to look angry or swollen, then a trip to the vet is in order.

Thank you! I'm going to get some of that antibiotic ointment first thing in the a.m.

I ended up taking my male RES to the vet today just to be sure his feet would be ok. The vet said she doesn't think it's infected yet but getting close. She gave me both Silvadene and also an oral antibiotic to give him once a day. My poor baby. But at least he can start to heal now.

the exact same situation occured with my oldest male RES when i got my female (shelly). whenever i saw the incident occuring i would grab floyd (my male RES) out of the water and seperate him into a smaller enclosure. eventually he got over his little fit and they get along fine now. as far as the agressivness goes maybe you can slowly reintroduce them in small incriments at a time until they get reaccustomed to each other. just make sure your water is super clean and with your antibiotics you should be fine . good luck.

I wouldn't bet on they're learning to get along, especially if they're both males. It's best to keep them separated if there's bullying/agression.