Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever heard of southern painted hatchlings being aggressive toward one another. I have three of them and one is a little bigger than the other two. I walked into their room today about five minutes after I put some food in their tank and the bigger one had a hold of one of the little ones legs. I scared it off and figured that maybe he accidentally bit on while snapping for food. Then he swam right over to the other little one and snapped on to his foot. I always seen painted turtles in general are pretty social especially at that size (2-2", 1-3 1/2".) I already moved the terrible turtle to his own tank but anybody here know why it would do that? thanks
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Mike D

1.1 Peninsula Cooters
0.1 Green Iguana
0.0.3 Southern Painteds
0.0.3 3 Striped Muds

May be he wasn't getting enough to eat, or not often enough. Its good that you separated them though.

My sister has an aggressive female paint...I don't know if it is true aggression or if she just gets into a feeding frenzy...she has chomped down on her tank mate several times and once had him by the neck. She wants all the food for herself. Her issues seem to be around food, otherwise she's fine. Her tank mate is calm and sweet and very timid. My yearling Gus is a snapping fool-when he sees food coming his old jaws start snapping away. I've seen him eye Squirts foot and go after it, thinking it was food, I've seen Squirt do the same. They are such pigs they go for anything they see. Even though they are reptiles, I think they have distinct and different personalities. Squirt(2) has always been very calm and gentle while Gus is more high strung and impulsive. Who knows what goes on in their little reptile minds!