Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a 2 and 1/2 year old yellow bellied slider that we've raised since he was about a month old. His carapace is now a little over 4 inches long. I tried introducing a baby (about an inch) into his tank yesterday. Things seemed to being going well at first, but today the larger turtle is agressively grabbing and dragging the smaller one around the tank. I have separated them for now. I was told that as long as the older one had not been fed fish this would not be a problem. I'm not so sure. Will it be possible to get them in the same tank or will I have to get a whole separate set up for the newest addition to our family?

Unfortunatly sliders are not easy to predict with reagrd to behavior toward conspecifics.

Some individulas do okay with others. Some always attack. Some are easily bullied.

As a general rule though,a 4 inch turtle is a danger to 1 or two incher.

What you feed it seems to play no role in anyay i am aware of.

Generally people wait until the turtles are closer in size before putting them togther. the larger turtle may attach it defensively or it may even try to eat the smaller one.
Thisis a problem many keepers have to face. Many breeders lose babies annually to the parents.

You should probbaly seperate them for a year or so.

I agree with bloomindaedalus. You need to plan on getting another tank for the smaller turtle until he gets larger. Even then, aggression is not a sure thing. Adult turtles are perfectly capable of picking on each other. In the future when you do get to put them together, make sure there's plenty of room, and even some places for the turtles to get away from each other.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

I often wonder were these ideas come from (the thing that someo one told you about not feeding your turtle live fish and it will not try to eat a smaller turtle). As you can see you just can't predict how they will react. Coversely, I have have a 14 inch cooter living very happily with a 2.5 inch slider in an indoor pond. Point is ya just can't tell what they are going to do. It was good that you acted quickly when you saw things going bad and separated the two. One day your little guy should be able to live with the bigger one. He really does need to grow a bit more though. Once he is larger there is a good chance (given enough room and hiding spots as a buffer) that your big guy won't preceive the little one as a "prey" item.