Hi, I have two musk turtles. One is five years old(common musk) and the other is around 4 (razorback). I've had both since they were hatchlings. My four ear old is constantly mounting and mating with my five year old. My five year old hates it and is always fighting him off. I didn't have this problem before. Both my musk were supposed to be guaranteed females, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I just spent a great deal of money on their current 60 gallon set up and can't really afford to buy a new one for one of the turtles. My female musk turtle is forced to spend all of her time out of the water on the basking spot. The male will mount her all day long. She used to be a pretty happy and fearless turtle and now she's shy and hides all day. Is there anything, short of buying a whole new set up, I can do to make things better for me poor female? I really can't afford a new set up, but I really like both my turtles and don't want to get rid of either of them. I spent over a thousand on their current set up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
aggressively mating musk turtle
Replies (2)
I have this same problem to a degree with my stinkpot male mating one of my two 3 lined mud females. The one he mates seems to be quite agreeable to it and will sit coupled up with for what seems like hours at a time the break and go back to it again. He strongly dislikes the other female and will bite at her to keep her a good distance from him.
It seems with a sixty gallon tank you are may have options. My guess is that what might be happening is you female razorback may not be ready to mate with him or perhaps will just never have an interest in it. I would give her some underwater hiding spots in a tank that large and see how she does with that. If she can escape his assaults without hitting dry land she may be alright. If she if really sustaining injury from these assaults I would rehome one of them (perhaps trade off your male to someone for a adult "guaranteed" female or put a fish tank divider in the tank and keep them on separate sides.
Good luck
Steve
hey,
if the is at breeding size how about you jsut let them breed, try adding a feeder fish that might destract the male, but i am tihnking you will have to relocate the male or female
