General Care Discussion :: Two red eared sliders, one biting shell?

[handoug]

Hello,
In september I went to china town in Chicago and purchased two red eared sliders (I know this is not advised but I'd been looking for a turtle and they were cheap and cute!..I decided not to get the ones at petco because they were biting each other and had open wounds). Anyways, my turtles shells are about 2 inches across, I have a rock for basking in the UV light, as well as a heat lamp for them. This is on a timer, it goes on at 7am every morning and turns off at about 8pm. They also have a heater that regulates the temp and keeps it consistent. I've been feeding them meat and tomatoes and leafy greens. I am not sure what gender they are and not sure how to tell, but what my concern is that one of them is occasionally biting the other ones shell (only the shell not his skin). The one whose shell is being bit doesn't seem to mind it much though, I wasn't sure if this is normal or what I can do to fix whatever may be wrong if it is a bad thing. I have noticed that they don't spend much time basking on the rock under the light. Even when I first got them, they just don't seem to be interested in it. I have also had to feed them each one at a time or else one will try to eat the others food and steal from the other, but they don't go after one another, just the food. Please let me know if anybody knows any information on it. I have tried to read about this on many websites but can't find one as specific as this.
Thanks!

[VeipaCray]

Hello from Chicago and welcome to the forum. First, your turtles are too young/small to be sexed. Only when their shell is 4" are they mature enough to determine sex.

What are your water and basking are temperatures? Is the UV lamp a reptile specific UVB lamp? Is the rock submerged in a way that the turtles can easily climb up and get completely out of the water? You can try to lure them up there with some food too.

As for feeding juvenile turtles leafy greens are always good but you should also feed a quality turtle pellet like Reptomin or Mazuri. Pellets should be the staple of your juvenile turtle's diet.

They are opportunistic feeders and stealing food and competing for food is common. As cute as the baby turtles are, they are not social creatures in a small confined space. More often than not you will eventually need to separate them into different habitats to keep them from injuring one another. You will probably have better luck being able to keep them together in a single habitat as juveniles but as they grow be prepared for two complete habitats.

[handoug]

Thank you for your reply!

water temp is at 78 degrees I believe and I'm not quite sure on the basking temp. The UV light is specific for reptiles, yes. The rock I have is one you attach to the side by little suction cups, they can easily get on and off it, I do try to lure them with food but as soon as the get it they jump back down into the water. I will definitely get the turtle pellets this week, thank you for that! And I was afraid somebody was going to say that I'd have to separate them, I just didn't want to separate them, they've been together since I've had em! haha

[Kansasslider]

The thing you call a rock is a zoo med basking dock. You won't need to seperate them for some time if ever. You need some kind of heat bulb. Congrats on your new babies.

[steve]

You'll need to continually monitor the behavior. Biting during feeding is one thing, but aggressive biting is another. I hate to be "that guy" but you should always be prepared to separate when there are multiple turtles.