General Care Discussion :: Aggression after 12 years

[lgonz]

Hello all! I have a 12 year old RES and 12 year old yellow belly as well. They have lived in the same tanks together their whole lives. They are currently in a 100 gallon tank and have been living very peacefully. Until the past couple of weeks rolled around, they have had no issues whatsoever. Recently our RES has become aggressive with our yellow belly when they are in the water. The RES doesn't let her swim freely unless they are eating. Other than that our yellow belly is being chased and sometimes bit. She mostly stays on the dock unless she feels comfortable enough to get into the water. The only time our RES is aggressive is when they're in the water swimming around. They can eat in peace together and will often bask together too. What/why could this be? What are some options to make things better for the both of them?

[SINI5T3R]

are they fluttering at all? is the RES waving his little feet in front of the other turtles face at all?

[lgonz]

Not really. It looks like the RES may start to put their arms out but never really follows through.

[steve]

Sounds like it will only escalate and you need to separate them. Is the RES a male or female?

[lgonz]

RES is a female

[unclejoe]

This is really sad to me. That they have been fine for 12 years, I am very new to pet turtle ownership so I can't give you any experience advise, but I have been doing a lot of reading trying to learn, and all I have seen about turtles that start getting aggressive, is either separate or you could try finding bigger accommodations to see if that works. I have read that some people try several basking options and maybe some things in the tank or pond to block direct vision from one turtle to the other.. In other words offering some places to hide for the turtle that is getting picked on.

I have seen several different species cohabitate in a large pond, but they had plenty of space to get away from each other. Maybe the problem is they are out growing their 100 gallon tank. Is the Yellow bellied larger? I know our female Yellow Bellies were quite a bit larger then The RES females. Maybe they are out growing the tank.. Just an idea

[steve]

What's odd is that larger spaces can sometimes cause new problems. Your suggestions are definitely worth trying, I would add feeding separately because even though they are fine now, they might see each other as competition later. RES are almost always more aggressive.

[unclejoe]

What's interesting is how aggressive RES' are apparently in captivity, in the wild they were definitely the most enthusiatics eaters.. first there at feeding times and last to leave, but never did we see them ever snap at each other or at the other species. Only time we ever saw aggression With RES turtles is once we had a new comer male, decide one day to clamp down on our little 4" female (Ambie) I grabbed the two of them out of the water and managed to free Ambie from his jaws, he had no intention of letting her go. But that was only once and after that he came for months feeding along with the girls and no problems. Only the mature large female Soft Shells ever snapped at the others and yes it did happen because of food.. Not often but it definately was, get out of my way, my turn kind of snap..

[steve]

Interesting read. I wonder if that new comer was previously captive.

[unclejoe]

I don't know if the new male was a previous captive, but we believe Ambie may have been, she was very people friendly, she enjoyed just spending time with us, didn't mind being picked up and liked to have her back and throat scratched. She also would sit on my wife's foot and sun herself a few times. The male we named Jet, was very skittish and shy.. He was one of these RES' with no red markings, his yellow stripes were also faded and looked dark gray. He did this to Ambie in early spring at the time we thought maybe it was surging hormones but we didn't know anything of the fluttering behaviour, can't say we ever saw that in the murky pond..

[steve]

I agree with your assessment and it sounds like Jet was melanistic. Ambie sounds so sweet, my female RES used to be like that a lot.

[unclejoe]

Yes that is the word we were told, melanistic,,I could't think of it. Have a fellow herper on a ferret forum I belong to and that is what they called him when I posted a pic trying to figure out what kind of turtle he was.

It was a hard decision to leave her behind, but we just couldn't right with ourselves taking her out of such a huge beautiful environment and sticking her in a tiny tank. She was well adapted to being in the wild, just didn't seem fair to her. But we miss her daily and the others, hence the reason for finally breaking down and getting Philbert.

[lgonz]

Well here is an update for you: both turtles are now living in peace and harmony together once again. It was from one day to the next that the RES has left our yellow bellied alone and they are both in the water swimming together. It has been this way for a few days now. I didn't want to post an update in case it was just a one time deal but it has been so much better for the both of them. I have no idea what changed for our RES but I'm happy he is not being aggressive with our yellow bellied. We are currently looking for a larger tank but until we find one, we are so glad the aggression has stopped completely.

[unclejoe]

Glad to hear it. Who knows maybe the RES wasn't feeling 100% and something was off. I hope it stays this way since they have been together for so many years.