Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two RES. Lately, the smaller one has been biting at the largest one's feet and tail after a feeding. I feed them in separate containers outside the tank. The smaller one never finishes what I give him. He will not stop biting at the others feet until I give him more food. I feel as if I'm encouraging this behavior by giving him more food. I know he's not hurting the larger one. He's not big enough to. But the larger one is annoyed. It's sad to watch him try to swim around with his back feet and tail pulled into his shell. Should I let them be and not give more food? I'd be thrilled if the larger one whipped around and bit the smaller one good. That might teach him, but the larger one is really passive. Any ideas/thoughts?

Devin

that exactly what one of my turtles do...they are both pretty much the same size though, and i know my other turtles thats being bit dosent like it...all ive been told is that in a situation like this, the turtle doing the biting feels like the other one is kinda intruding...and sometimes they feel the need to be dominant or claim their territory, so thats why they do this, once again, im not sure about this, but it may be the cause, ive been told to feed them in seperate locations....anyone else have anything to see bout this?

It could be something as simple as the patterning on you other sliders feet and tail attracts the little guys attention and so he is biting at them. It might be a good a idea to separate the two of them. Even if he is not hurting the other slider he is certainly stressing him out and this can lead to health problems down the line. Eventually he will start breaking skin or take off the tip of the tail.

Try a temporary separation (a week or two and then reintroduce the little guy and see what happens.)

Steve

Well it seems a bit natural.. my 2 male RES also do this. Funny I got them at the same time and one turtle is a lot larger then other. I'm talking 7 inches to maybe 5... doesn't sound like much but hes just overall a lot bigger width, etc..

But the little one is a jerk I would say and likes to bother the big one. My turtles aren't eating much right now - they always act like this come winter even though I don't touch the temperatures.. I suppose they look at the weather outside from the window.

So what I did was get my small RES (I get pissed when he drags on to the feet and my big turtle trys to swim away slapping the water), well I get my small RES and put him in the smaller tank which is mostly used for feeding but has a heater and filter too. I would keep him there for a night or a few hours then put them back in. This didn't seem like it had any effect but now whenever I am around the small RES won't bother the bigger one. I suppose if I am out the house anything goes, but I figure it's just a phase.

This phase is rather annoying so make sure you keep your turtles ok. One time my 2 res got into a big fight, and I didn't see it but I saw the battle wounds. The big RES had skin rip on his forearm and the little one msut have gotten bitten to out of retaliation (the big one rarely retaliates, but if he does, it's harmful!) The small RES had a wound on his foot and one of his nails on his arms was missing. I was alarmed but it grew back months later... it seems certain time periods they don't get along. Like I can vividly remember this year - January through June was fine, no fighting. Come July, fighting daily! Then nothing until October where the daily fighting continued. Now it's November and I rarely see them in fighting stance so I suppose its just nature