RES nipping

Memes

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Mar 9, 2020
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So,i have 2 turtles, but I never actually asked for them. The reason I even have these turtles is because my mom thought they were cute and kept begging my dad to get them, she did this whilst not knowing a single thing about keeping turtles and every attempt to better the turtle's life has been from my advice. Okay, so the situation is that right now I have 2 4-inched red ear sliders being kept in a half filled 30 gallon tank. These turtles mostly get only pellets and does not really eat vegetables, mostly because alot of attempts of me trying to get them to start eating vegetables have failed because my mom thought they were begging for pellets, they don't get any supplements either, we also don't have any vets or turtle medication in our part of the country because most people here are still ignorant about pet keeping. Many times I have tried to persuade my mother to get a bigger tank ending in failure, now one of the two turtles, the female one (the other being male) has started to nip at the feet of the male turtle. Can anyone tell me what causes this behaviour, and what I can do to fix it?
 

Toddrickfl1

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Are you sure it's a female doing the nipping? It's usually males that display this behavior. It's a territorial/dominance thing. Your going to have to separate them or one is going to end up hurt or worse. In any case a 30 gallon is WAY too small for two turtles that size let alone one. Have you mentioned stock tanks to your mom? They're much cheaper and suitable than glass aquariums.
 

Maggie3fan

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Also...they eat more protein than veggies..nightcrawlers... superworms...slugs, I dig nightcrawlers out of a flower bed..collect slugs from my yard under rocks and boards and plant pots...If nothing else...feed them better...and try to give one away...
 

Memes

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Joined
Mar 9, 2020
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Medan
Are you sure it's a female doing the nipping? It's usually males that display this behavior. It's a territorial/dominance thing. Your going to have to separate them or one is going to end up hurt or worse. In any case a 30 gallon is WAY too small for two turtles that size let alone one. Have you mentioned stock tanks to your mom? They're much cheaper and suitable than glass aquariums.
It's definitely the female, she is larger than him, has shorter nails and I saw the other one's penis too.

They shouldn't be kept in pairs. Groups can sometimes work, but not pairs. Get another tank.
Thanks for the response I'll seperate them.

What he said.
Or maybe gift one to a friend and get them started into the hobby as well?
(Since you don't seem to be attached to them)
While I AM quite attached to them I wouldn't want to see one suffer alot because I want to keep them together so yes my best choice is giving one away. But none of the people I know really want aquatic pets, especially one with high maintenance. So I play to return them to a local pet store even though the conditions there are also inadequate like most pet stores here.
 
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Well this probably won't help, but I recently made a video going out on each guideline on making a 110 gallon stock tank pond for under $200 which is very doable. Now that you have your stuff from your old aquarium you won't need much other than the stock tank itself. Let me know if you need help I'll be more than happy to link you to it.
 

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