Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 250 gal. tank with 4 turtles, 1 cooter, 1 map, and 2 RES. One of the RES is just over 8 years old, the other one is older, but was a rescue and am not sure of age. They have been housed together for well over 7 years. Just recently the onlder one has started attacking the younger one. He now has wounds on his neck and nose which I am treating. What could cause the sudden aggression and what can I do to prevent/ stop it, other then having to seperate them into different tanks. Please help!!!

You will need to separate them. It is not fair for the younger turtle to be picked on. I am willing to bet the older is a male. It doesn't matter how long they have been housed together once aggression starts you don't have much choice. I would suggest you put him in a tank by himself as chances are he will start attacking your other turtles when this one is removed.

I would seperate them as soon as you can.

Hope this helps
Linda

I bet the aggression is food related.... This also happened to me several times when they were eating something they really love...like nightcrawlers and fish. It could be they are fighting and biting each other because they don't get enough food and sometime coupled that with feeding the favorite food as a treat, they may bite each other in the neck or feet. Some people feed their turtles once a week, and I find that they can get pretty aggressive during feeding time, so I tend to feed them small amount 3 times a week and make sure everybody gets some. I always take the time to watch who's been eating and who hasn't been eating as much because maybe the others are stealing his/her share, or maybe the bigger one needs to be fed a little more since you put them together, the smaller ones are eating up a lot of the food.