Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone recorded/noted cannibalism in any turtle at all? Specificaly Cuora amboinensis. I used to have 5, 3 died of natural causes, the other one, as the babysitter described, was eaten till the bone (this happened while there were 3 in a tank, befor this one died). I doubted the claims, thinking he/she may have died naturaly, but one day after cleaning the tank, i found something in the gravel i used as a land area (used a glass divider), it was a very clean bone. No sign of any meat attached or anything. I believe it was a piece from the vertebrae. All the turtles were well fed (actualy, FAT!!!, all very chubby and happy, but NOT obesse), i've kept em well for over a year with no ill effects together (there were 4 in a tank together before, never fought except for food). So now i'm a believer, coz that was proof that the turtle was eaten by its tank mates. I keep my pets in a closed reptile room, so no big rats or anything, and if there were, they shouldve gone for my softshell or my hatchling RES i kept in tupperware containers, instead of the taller turtle aquarium.

Any ideas anyone? Posted this a while a go (happened last year) and no replies
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My "babies" :
1.0.1 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.1 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
1.0.1 Indonesian Whites Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea)
And hopefuly still growing...

This happened to a yellow-bellied cooter I gave a friend. He was about two inches and his two bigger RESers attacked and ate him, shell and all.

Ouch, thats bad The thing is all of the 4 i had in my tank were the same size, all are at least 4 inches. And has anyone have this kind of situation with turtles of the same species? (similiar ones are confirmed by the above post ) I am quite familiar with some turtles, like say, alligator snappers chomping off other turtles for a snack/lunch/dinner, but anyone got any info on same species cannibalism? (same size yet)
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My "babies" :
1.0.1 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.1 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
1.0.1 Indonesian Whites Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea)
And hopefuly still growing...

I can't say if the same turtle species would kill & eat it's tankmates, I know of cases where species that were mixed together have done this.
I have another theory about why this may have happened to yours by using a mammal example.
It's about ewww rats lol.. seriously they are very social animals who love to live in large groups. Fighting among rats that live in the same colony is very rare, even with males.
I do know that in cases where a rat dies of natural causes the other rats will eat the dead one. Speculation on that is they do it to clean up the environment. They won't kill & eat each other but in order to keep their home clean it makes sense that they'd do this if one died.
Maybe the same is true for turtles? I'm just guessing here..
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PHRatz

This happened to me with rats! it was absolutely horrible to think that my adorable little ratties would kill and eat one of their brothers, but I researched and they do not usually kill, just eat the dead, and the victim was very sickly. I got rid of most of them after this however, it creeped me out.

Quite a few animals do this. I've heard that it is for protection, especially in animals that live close together. They will eat teh dead to keep scavengers away. If a dead animal is found, they may attack one of the living. Dogs do this.

Gross story, but here goes... My friends dog had puppies. A few days later she was standing by the door like she wanted out. Me and my friend were both there and all of a sudden her stomach sort of spasmed and a stillborn puppy came out. We both looked at each other in surprise and disgust.. We looked back for the still born puppy and the mother dog had just finished chowing it down and was licking up the blood on the floor. We were so grossed out, but it happens.. It's natural. I don't see why turtles could not be the same way...

Bones will unlikely leave a scent that attracts scavengers, so leaving the bones is no issue, it'd seem.

I'm not 100% sure, but this seems more logical than cannibal turtles of same species.