George our ornate box turtle

Question
Last question I sent was on how to deal with 2 males and George our female ornate. Right before we started building an enclosure for George we discovered she was a male! We were delighted because now we have 3 males.  Everything was going fine until recently. George has become very territorial with Joe and Elvis. He tries to bite Joe and seems to be trying to mate with Elvis which in itself is weird. Joe & Elvis only hang out in about 1/4 of the yard whereas George travels the whole yard and feels he owns it all. Should I leave them alone and let them work out their issues or continue taking George away from the other ones when he gets aggressive if I'm around?  (Who knows what happens when I'm gone!) Will they get used to each other and live in peace (we've only had the 2 new turtles about a month)or will this go on forever?  I don't want George to hurt the others and Joe doesn't try to defend himself.  He's pretty intimidated & just tries to get away. Elvis just resurfaced after a week (who knows where he was!) so this was their first confrontation. We were thinking about getting one more turtle but don't want to exascerbate the problem.  Any ideas?

Answer
Hi Cathy,

Those boys!  Anyway, George might be a bit of a butthead because he woke up recently and it's spring.  Some males are just more into strutting their stuff than others.  He should calm down soon, but you may have to separate him for a while if he doesn't.  You can also try rearranging as many things in the yard as you can--rocks, logs, potted plants, etc.--or adding some new things.  Sometimes making the area look different will reduce aggression.  For the most part, I would just leave them alone and see how things go for a few weeks.  My guess is that George will settle down.  As long as he's not causing injury and Joe and Elvis don't seem overly stressed out (hiding, not eating), it's probably best to just let it blow over.  

Are you sure Elvis is male?  Some males aren't picky and will try to mate with just about anything, but it's something to consider.  Also, if you do get another turtle, don't get a female.  With three males, she'll be harassed constantly.  If you're able to build a pen for her, then it won't matter so much.  Good luck, and keep me posted on the saga!

Just a thought--post back and set it to *private* and I'll give you my email.  Then you can just email me directly.  I like hearing about your guys!