Turtles are known as quite slow and docile animals, but this isn’t always the case, these animals will sometimes exhibit surprising behaviors such as biting each other’s feet.
This article looks into why your turtles may be biting each others feet.
Table of Contents
Turtle biting other turtle’s feet:
Any aggressive behavior will raise eyebrows and make you wonder what has gotten into your turtle, aggressive behavior may include one turtle biting another turtle’s feet.
If your pets are doing this then the reasons why this may be happening may be:
Fighting over territory:
Many animals are very territorial, turtles included, and if you introduce a turtle into the space of another turtle then territorial disputes will occur and this may be why one turtle is biting the other turtle’s feet.
These animals don’t have many ways of defending themselves and attaching others but they do have strong sharp beaks.
If they find that a turtle is trying to take over its space then the first turtle will fight it off by biting at its feet.
What to do:
One way to remedy this situation is to give each turtle an enclosure this will keep them separate and also stop them from fighting.
Another route to take would be to get a bigger enclosure one that will fit both of the turtles.
It is recommended that each turtle has 10 gallons of water per inch of shell, another thing to note is that the animals will need bigger enclosures as they grow.
It looks like food:
Another reason why one of your turtles may be biting another turtle’s feet may be that the biting turtle thinks that the other turtle’s foot is a worm.
These animals can mistake many things for food like your fingers or another turtle’s foot.
In this case, the biting will be more of a reflex than biting out of aggression or anything else. This behavior is more common in turtles who have poor eyesight.
What to do:
This is quite common behavior in turtles and isn’t something that you would need to worry about, as long as the biting turtle stops biting once it realizes that it isn’t biting into food then you can let the animal be
What may help would be leaving food and tasty worms all over the enclosure so the turtles don’t have to bite each other when looking for food.
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, My Turtle Killed My Other Turtle, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Tail