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Keeping a pair of red-ear sliders

22 16:20:22

Question
We own a pair of red-ear sliders, that were purchased in June/July of last year as tiny babies.  Apparently we selected a male and a female, from what we can tell about sexing sliders from the information on the web.  It seems that the male is getting or is sexually mature -- but the female seems totally uninterested.  Yet that doesn't stop the male from harassing her, and twice now he's bitten the back of her neck and grabbed hold trying to yank her around.  (The male's name is Spica and the female's name is Speedy.)

Speedy now has a big turtle hickey-looking scab that I think with the second bite has torn open.  There's no blood that I can see, just white skin underneath.  The turtles have always been social when they were young, so in spite of this Speedy will chase Spica when she feels like it, and Spica of course constantly harasses her.  I think if there was genuine stress, Speedy would be more snappy at Spica (She's snappy at me and I haven't done anything to her.), but she seems to act like this is normal and still goes puttering around the tank like nothing has happened. Speedy often is more upset at us that because we've approached her tank, than she seems to be scared of Spica.

We'd like to keep the turtles together, because there does seem to be a genuine bond between the two.  That said, we were thinking if we created a rock wall in the tank with little tunnels that could a fit a single turtle, instead of two, would that be sufficient? This stuff must happen in the wild, and yet turtles are still able to reproduce -- so Speedy shouldn't be in any life-threatening danger, right?  

All the cases I've read about this recommend separating the turtles.  They're still small enough that we could probably put a divider in the tank (55 gallons) and they could have their "space." All the other answers I can find on the web recommend separating them -- but we would really like to not do that.  The tank right now has river rocks lining the bottom, a large dock, and a pile of rocks so they can sleep and stick their noses out of the water.   If we improved on that in terms of hiding/resting places for a single turtle, that should help, no?  

Any help you could give would be appreciated.  Thanks.  

Answer
Well...

1. Red-ear sliders are not sexually mature until about 4" long in what we call 'Straight-line Carapace Length' (SCL)- the shell only from front to back, not measured along the curve. This usually takes about 4 years to get to.

Courtship rituals before that size, especially with biting and violence are more usually dominance and aggression displays.

There are a few common reasons most Red-ears get aggressive:
- stressed by overcrowding
- wrong diet
- troubles in the basic cares
- individual is just a bully.

2. Turtles really do not bond or socialize. They share resources nicely, but truly social animals have a lot of behaviors that turtles never show. In fact, in the wild, turtles are usually only found near each other when basking or mating.

3. With a 55 gallon tank, you should be OK for another year or so with the two turtles depending on how it is arranged.

It should be, ideally...
- mostly filled with water, to about 40 gallons worth (we figure about 10 gallons of water per inch of shell length (SCL) helps minimize stress)
- basking site for each turtle, even if they usually share one
- the pile of rocks is probably taking a lot of water space- you can probably phase it out (avoid making big, sudden changes= turtles are very conservative!)
- water warmed to about 75-80F, and the basking sites warmed to about 90F
- water should be well-filtered with a big external filter rated for a tank of about 100-150 gallons- the bigger the better.

4. If habitat and care redesign does not stop the aggression, then separation is the last option. A divider in the tank would work, but separate tanks is better or they will still smell each other and the stress continues.

5. You mention the one is more afraid of you than the other turtle- but this only makes sense. You are a giant with unknown intentions looming over them, the other turtle is just another turtle and much less scary.

It is really easy for us mammals to look at turtles and think we know what stresses or pleases them, but they are not mammals, and we are often wrong.

6. You can find more information at these sites:
http://www.redearslider.com
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com
http://www.turtleforum.com

Good luck!