Habitat - Indoor :: I Tried to Introduce My Two Today...

[lotsofpets]

My two turtles have always lived in separate habitats. Today, since both have been relatively healthy since I got them and are closer in size, I decided to introduce them to each other. I put Donatello in Monet's habitat. Monet was hiding under his ramp, so I decided to give them a few pellets. Everything was allright until there was two pellets close together. Both turtles tried to go after them but then Monet chased Donatello and tried to bite his back foot. I got the fish net and held off Monet until I could grab Donatello and put him back into his own habitat. I guess it will be separate habitats forever! I thought about getting a new habitat large enough for the both of them, but if I do that I will obviously have to have a barrier between them.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Turtles are almost always aggressive during feeding time. When my two were housed together, i had to feed them seperately in a feeding container because if I fed them in their tank they will would fight for the food.

Unfortunately my experience in keeping two in the same tank was a bad one, in the end it's up to you if you want to put them together or not. But like you said, if you buy something big enough (thats wide enough, long enough, and tall enough) and put a divider in the middle, that would be a great space saving idea. But keep in mind that it will also mean that if one gets sick, the other might get sick too.

[urbancleopatra]

One thing I do to help with the feeding is lure each of them over to a different side of the tank at the same exact time and drop the pellets all at once. I spend a few minutes getting the right amount of pellets into each hand first and then getting their attentions caught in different directions. Slightly complicated but by the time they're both finished eating and realizes the other is eating as well, there aren't any more pellets so there isn't anything to fight about.

[steve]

Both are males? It's definitely harder to keep turtles together when a male is in the equation. You can try to introduce them for short, supervised periods of time and gradually increase that. Fighting over food is one thing, plain aggression is another.

[lotsofpets]

I think they are both males. Monet definately is, Donatello is a hair under four inches. I only fed them so I could get Monet out of hiding. Before Monet noticed Donatello, Donatello was sniffing in all the corners and such because it
is not his habitat. When Donatello noticed Monet, Donatello began swimming away rather quickly with his tail between his legs. Do you think if I put Monet in Donatello's habitat it may work better? I may try to introduce them again in short bursts of time. I'll have something ready to break them up if something starts to happen.

[SpotsMama]

I'm thinking that Donatello and Monet are not meant to be roomies.....

[sean rose]

lol thats a shame but its ment to be

[megcornell]

I think maybe part of the problem is that you're introducing a new male into what is already another male's territory. Perhaps you;d have better luck if you put them both into a new setting, like if you cleaned whichever tank is larger and reintroduced both of them to it at the same time. To avoid added stress I'd feed them separately from the start, there's no need to chance food-related aggression if you don't have to.
But then again, some turtles are just too aggressive to house together.

[jenaero]

I agree with Meg. Let them meet on neutral ground