Turtles are known to be quite chilled and laid-back animals, they aren’t seen as aggressive but any animal can become aggressive if need be, turtles included.
If your pet turtles seem to not be content and are suddenly aggressive towards each other then you’d understandably worry about them.
This article looks into why your turtles may be aggressive towards each other.
Table of Contents
Are turtles aggressive to each other:
Many see turtles as a picture of tranquility and peace, however, these animals are surprisingly complex and have a range of emotions.
Here are the reasons why these animals may be aggressive towards each other:
Fighting over territory:
One reason why your turtles may be aggressive toward each other may be that the animals are fighting over territory.
Animals like to have a space that is theirs and theirs alone, if you bring two turtles together and there isn’t enough space for the both of them, then they may start to become aggressive towards each other.
What to do:
Giving the animals a bigger enclosure, one that can comfortably accommodate the two of them, or giving each of the animals their own enclosure, that is big enough for each should stop the aggression in the animals.
Fighting over resources:
Another thing that these animals will be aggressive over and fight over is resources, while territory is a resource the animals may also fight over food and water.
If there isn’t enough of a resource for the animals then you may notice aggressive behavior when one turtle starts to use, or even approach, the resource.
What to do:
Making sure that there is enough food and water for each of your pets is a must, each animal needs to eat and drink but how much food the animal needs has to be calculated depending on the species of the animal and its size.
Calculate how much food and water each turtle needs and then serve this to them. Leaving food and water in different areas of the enclosure is also recommended so the turtles can eat at the same time.
Fighting over mates:
Mating is a basic need for turtles and competition for mates is fierce. You’ll usually see two males becoming aggressive towards each other as they fight for a female.
The males will engage in combat but the behavior will be temporary and will subside once breeding season concludes.
What to do:
You don’t have to do anything if you see this in your turtles, it is pretty normal and natural for these animals.
Let the animals fight it out. If however the animals become injured during the fights then you’ll have to intervene.
Age differences:
Keeping turtles of different ages may also cause aggression between turtles.
It isn’t recommended that turtles of different ages be kept in the same enclosure because the older ones will want to assert their dominance over the younger ones and will become aggressive because of this.
What to do:
Separating the older turtles and the younger turtles is recommended. This is especially recommended among males as they will want to show their dominance over one another.
Once they are given their separate enclosures they should stop being aggressive.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise-related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Turtle Suddenly Aggressive, My Turtle Killed My Other Turtle, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Feet, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Tail