Turtles are typically known for their slow and gentle nature, they aren’t known to be aggressive and they aren’t known to be killers.
If one of your turtles killed your other turtle then you’d understandably be worried, this article explores why this happened and what to do.
Table of Contents
My turtle killed my other turtle:
One of your turtles killing another turtle will understandably be quite worrying for you as a turtle owner, and getting to the bottom of why this is happening is a must to keep this from happening in the future.
Here is everything you need to know if your turtle killed your other turtle:
Why it happened:
While turtles will be calm and docile when they have everything they need the animals can be aggressive, will fight, and can even kill each other over competition.
These animals compete over territory, over mates over food. Territorial disputes can happen if the animals feel crowded, this will make the animals feel threatened.
The animals will also fight during mating season, whoever wins gets to continue their bloodline. And, they will fight if they are starving, fighting over food means life or death.
These animals may not have teeth but they have staring jaws and sharp beaks, these are used to defend themselves from predators but they are also used to kill each other.
If your pet’s v-shaped beak gets ahold of another then the bite may cause bleeding and tearing of the flesh which can lead to the death of the turtle.
What to do:
Check that the animal is dead, a dead turtle will have no reaction to stimuli so it will not eat when you touch it in different parts of its body.
A dead turtle will also feel cold to the touch, will have sunken eyes, and will release a foul smell.
Once you’re sure that your pet turtle is in fact dead you would need to dispose of it. You can dispose of it by burning the animal, cremating the animal or you can have your pet or local animal control facility dispose of the animal.
Burial restrictions vary by jurisdiction so you’d need to check the animal burial laws in your area before you decide to bury your pet.
You can avoid the turtles killing each other in the future by making sure that each animal has enough food, water, and space and that it has access to mates during the mating season.
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, Are Turtles Aggressive To Each Other, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Feet, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Tail