Sexually aggressive yearling?!

[Katherine]

I am housing 9 young box turtles in a supervised area until they get a little more sizable and can go in the backyard enclosure. I have one tiny box turtle who mounts the others regularly. I have discerned that he needs a separate containment at this point but am very curious about this behavior starting at such a young age! Does anyone have experience with aggressive hatchlings or suggestions that may make him play nicer with yard mates or is he destined for a life of solitude? I know they can be territorial, promiscuous and aggressive but I am just so surprised to see it this young. He is not just climbing on top of them, he hooks his feet, extroverts his xxxs genitalia and cranes his neck (although I have not seen him bite the necks of the other little guys I am quite certain that is his goal). So feisty! Here's a pic from tonight's soak....

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[ascott]

Sure appears he is wanting to bump nasty to me....however, I would wait and see what the others think

 

[Katherine]

Sure appears he is wanting to bump nasty to me....however, I would wait and see what the others think

He is only a year old and I have restricted his access to mainstream media, xrated websites AND R rated movies. *sigh* Where ever do they learn these things...

 

[ascott]

see...those were the things I was concerned with...but now you have cleared that up...surely it is in his genes....hahaha...

 

[jojodesca]

cue the music!...."I'm sexy and I know it".......

 

[ascott]

LOL....or "bringing sexy back"....te he

 

[lisalove]

Haha!!! Or "I'm too sexy" for this soak!!!!!

 

[turtlemann2]

Oh Boy.! lol

and dang at a year old he shouldnt have any "urges" yet but if he is hooking his feet and showing his goodies, little can be said otherwise! hopfully he isnt so aggressive that he cant be around other females, my two males CANNOT be together it would be a fight to the death and i already know who the loser was and is.

 

[ascott]

lol.....good stuff all the way down the board....

and yup, occasionally you will get a boy that has to show his joo joo beans to all the girls waaaay before the other boys....lol

 

[jojodesca]

dang testosterone! ....its starts early and doesn't stop!...maybe he's gonna be a good stud for you....

 

[Katherine]

dang testosterone! ....its starts early and doesn't stop!...maybe he's gonna be a good stud for you....

If he keeps refusing to cohabitate and continues being such a sexual bully he may end up being a good solo pet for someone else instead ; ) I LOVE the personalities of the spunkier and more dominant turtles/tortoises but I have quite a few and like to keep them in moderately peaceful communities where possible.... I can only imagine his reign of terror when he gets older! Plus the feisty ones make great companion animals for human counterparts : )

 

[turtlemann2]

i agree, some males do cause alot of havok and do much better alone its sad but true, id prefer one big happy bale over 3-4 seperated communities

 

[terryo]

I have one too that does the same thing. With mine this only happens when they are in the water dish. I have four hatchlings that weren't doing so well, so my friend gave them to me. This is the only one that does this. She/He hasn't bit anyone and is fine out of the water. I've seen this before, and I usually will distract him with some food.

 

[Katherine]

I have one too that does the same thing. With mine this only happens when they are in the water dish. I have four hatchlings that weren't doing so well, so my friend gave them to me. This is the only one that does this. She/He hasn't bit anyone and is fine out of the water. I've seen this before, and I usually will distract him with some food.

Mine is on it 24/7... They always have live food in their enclosure so maybe it isn't 'special enough' to serve him as a proper distraction? In your previous experience did the offender outgrow this or did they just turn into an older bigger bully? I have raised lots of hatchlings in a commune style setup but have never had one act out so often so young and am openminded about how to get him to warm up a bit. He is separate right now because he harasses the others so much that it makes me nervous.

 

[terryo]

I've seen this lots of times through the years. There's always one bully or aggressive eater. I've never separated any, except for the aggressive eaters. I have one now that grew much faster than the others and he is in a separate tank. I also have one young female that's outside with the adults now who gets a separate food dish when I feed them. Chewy is a little greedy when it comes to eating and will lay across the whole dish so no one can get any. They each have different personalities, but some don't change. I recently had a young Three Toed that was like that as a hatchling, and at 4 years of age was still a bully and quite nasty. I had to give him to a friend who had no male and she told me she has to feed him seperately. He is ALWAYS after the females 24/7 so she keeps him seperate most of the time.

 

[turtlemann2]

there are always nice docile boxies out there occationally they are just evil! way back when i had a romeo and a juliet.... well romeo sure was no romeo he would charge and attack the girl just as though she was a big ol male... he was an A ss but he found a home by himself, i wouldnt ever even try it with another turtle, some are just a bad egg but turtles dont need friends to be happy,

hofully your gut either calms down a bit or outgrows it

 

[Tccarolina]

I bet he'll change his behavior when he gets to the outside pen. Maybe you should set up a protected area outside for him. It's probably a bit early, but it might be wise before he hurts somebody.

BTW, is that what you call "supervised"? Good thing you don't run a day care! (making a joke, not for real!)

Steve

 

[Katherine]

I bet he'll change his behavior when he gets to the outside pen. Maybe you should set up a protected area outside for him. It's probably a bit early, but it might be wise before he hurts somebody.

BTW, is that what you call "supervised"? Good thing you don't run a day care! (making a joke, not for real!)

Steve

Hahahaha!

 

[turtlemann2]

LOL

 

[Katherine]

His underaged lady friend had a great soak without him today. I swear she looked over her shoulder a few times!