Turtles sharing a tank doesn’t always mean that there will be no squabbles or fights between the animals, attacks can happen and this may be what’s happening with your turtles.
This article looks into why your turtle is attacking your other turtle.
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Why is my turtle attacking my other turtle?
Animals attacking each other is quite a common sight in the animal kingdom, but it isn’t something that is commonly associated with turtles, so if you see this you’d understandably be confused.
Here are reasons why this may be happening with your pet:
Fighting over space:
One of the more common reasons why one of your turtles may be attacking the other may be over space.
All animals require space and their own territory, turtles included. If you put two turtles together in an enclosure that is too small then the pair may stay to attack and fight each other.
If you bring one turtle into the territory of another then the turtle that was there first will fight the newcomer for coming into its territory. This is more common in male turtles.
What to do:
Turtles aren’t actually social animals so keeping them together in one tank isn’t recommended.
If you can, put each of your turtles in their own enclosure and make sure that the enclosures are big enough for each turtle. You can alternatively get the animals one big tank that is big enough for both of them.
Breeding season:
Another reason why the turtles are getting aggressive may be because it is the breeding season.
During this time male turtles will compete for females and will get aggressive with other males often attacking other males.
The males will bite, chase, and ram each other during this time. They do all this to vie for the attention of the female.
The females will become aggressive and may attack in an effort to protect their nesting site.
What to do:
This is normal behavior and isn’t something that you’d need to worry about but it is something to keep an eye on.
Watch your pets and make sure that the animals don’t harm each other during this time. If they do harm each other then you will have to intervene
You can also provide additional hiding spots for the animals to help minimize fighting and injury
Fighting over resources:
Another reason why your turtle may be attacking other turtles may be because they are competing for resources.
Resources include food, basking spaces, and hideout spaces. If there aren’t enough of these resources in the tank then aggression will be seen.
What to do:
In this case, adding more resources to the tank is recommended.
You may want to space out the food, the basking spaces, and the hideout spaces so the animals can use them at the same time and be far away from each other.
Other reasons:
Other reasons for aggression in your turtles is housing turtles of different sizes together (this can quickly lead to bullying), illness (which can pain discomfort, and aggression in your pets), adding new turtles in the tank (this can disrupt the current hierarchy which can cause aggression and confusion) and inadequate enrichment (which can also cause the animals to become bored, frustrated and thus 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: What Kills Pet Turtles?, Do Turtles Eat Their Babies?, Male Turtle Biting Female Neck, Why Is My Turtle Biting The Other One?, Turtle Biting Other Turtles Head Off, Why Does My Turtle Try To Bite Me?, Do Male Turtles Eat The Eggs, Turtle Scratching Shell On Toothbrush, Why Do Turtles Put Their Feet Up At Night?