Turtles aren’t known to be aggressive but you may, from time to time, see aggression in your turtles, aggression like biting, this would understandably worry you as a turtle keeper
This article looks into why one of your turtles is biting the other one
Table of Contents
My turtle bites my other turtle:
Sharing and space for humans allows us to socialize and interact but it also means that we have to negotiate the space as well, and sometimes this can lead to aggression.
Turtles who share an enclosure have to deal with aggression from their tank mates and they may bite each other
Here are the reasons why one of your turtles may be biting the other turtle
Territory:
One reason why these animals will bite each other is because they want ownership of a certain territory.
If a turtle feels overcrowded, because you’ve recently brought in a new tankmate, then it may start to feel threatened by the other turtle and may bite it as a way of asserting its dominance.
These animals aren’t social animals, they are solitary and only come together when basking on the rocks, but they prefer to be alone.
If two of these animals are housed together then the animals may fight each other and bite each other in the process
They will fight because they are stressed over a lack of space as well as a lack of resources
What to do:
You’d need to separate the two animals, these reptiles may seem slow and harmless but their fights can get aggressive so you wouldn’t want them in the same small tank fighting with each other.
You can keep each turtle in its own tank. Each of the tanks would need to have the same comforts, food and environment as the other tank
Mating issues:
Male turtles who reach their sexual maturity will want to mate. If a male turtle wants to mate with a female but the female turtle doesn’t want to mate with him then she will try to bite him to get him to back off.
The female may also chase him around aggressively if she does not want to mate with him but he keeps persisting.
She will continue to be aggressive with him for as long as he tries to mate with her and for as long as she doesn’t want to mate with him
What to do:
You may need to separate these two for a while if you see this happening. Put a barrier between them if you’re choosing to keep them in the same tank, or separate them and put the two in different tanks.
Remove the barrier after a whole and see if they fight, if they do then use the barrier again. You can permanently remove the barrier once they stop fighting
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: My Turtle Got Bit By A Dog, My Turtle Has A Cut On Its Leg, Can Turtles Live In A Fish Tank, My Turtle Ate My Fish, My Turtle Is Getting Too Big, My Turtles Nails Are Too Long, Do Turtle Tails Grow Back?, My Turtle Can’t Swim, My Turtle Doesn’t Swim