I discovered a long time ago that adult male cherryheads often don't get along. I even documented this in an article I wrote for the German turtle magazine Schildkroten im Fokus back in 2004.
Then recently I got a copy of the magazine REPTILIA (#69) from my friend Dan O'Malley who described some pretty violent aggression between his adult male cherryhead and a northern male redfoot in an article he wrote for that magazine. So you would think that I would know better. But as our weather has been rather cool lately, I figured it would be safe to have a couple of my male cherryheads in the same enclosure for the afternoon. I should have listened to my own advice.
As it was getting dark and cooling off I went out to round up my animals to bring them in for the night. It was then that I found that two of my male cherryheads, Moe and Pindo, had squared off and were going at it. Nuts! why can't these guys get along?
Fortunately, there was not much damage yet but Pindo the younger and smaller of the two got his face scuffed up and his bottom jaw cut...
Some of the scutes on Pindo's front legs also got bit but none of his wounds are serious and will heal up just fine in time.
Moe who is larger, older and I'm pretty sure fights dirty, got his nose messed up by Pindo. But again, his injuries are not serious either...
They were fortunate in that I came upon them before they really hurt each other.
I am angry at myself for assuming that because it was somewhat cool outside and that the animals are not breeding that the males might tolerate one another. I won't make that mistake again.
On the other hand, Allegra who has a good track record with keeping multiple males together, feels that male cherryheads might be similar to male African cichlids. I too have considered this possiblity. The reasoning is based on the idea that an aquarium filled with male cichlids provides no real territory to defend and thus those males don't engage in serious fighting.
But remove all but a few of those males and they will kill each other as they try to establish their own territories.
It seems that male cherryhead redfoots engage in a similar behavior. People who keep numerous males together--especially in confined areas--never really get the big fights that those of us who attempt to maintain only a couple of males together get.
My advice for those who work with this race of redfoot is that if you do plan on keeping adult males in the same enclosure, make sure you keep a close eye on them for signs of aggression.
Then recently I got a copy of the magazine REPTILIA (#69) from my friend Dan O'Malley who described some pretty violent aggression between his adult male cherryhead and a northern male redfoot in an article he wrote for that magazine. So you would think that I would know better. But as our weather has been rather cool lately, I figured it would be safe to have a couple of my male cherryheads in the same enclosure for the afternoon. I should have listened to my own advice.
As it was getting dark and cooling off I went out to round up my animals to bring them in for the night. It was then that I found that two of my male cherryheads, Moe and Pindo, had squared off and were going at it. Nuts! why can't these guys get along?
Fortunately, there was not much damage yet but Pindo the younger and smaller of the two got his face scuffed up and his bottom jaw cut...
Some of the scutes on Pindo's front legs also got bit but none of his wounds are serious and will heal up just fine in time.
Moe who is larger, older and I'm pretty sure fights dirty, got his nose messed up by Pindo. But again, his injuries are not serious either...
They were fortunate in that I came upon them before they really hurt each other.
I am angry at myself for assuming that because it was somewhat cool outside and that the animals are not breeding that the males might tolerate one another. I won't make that mistake again.
On the other hand, Allegra who has a good track record with keeping multiple males together, feels that male cherryheads might be similar to male African cichlids. I too have considered this possiblity. The reasoning is based on the idea that an aquarium filled with male cichlids provides no real territory to defend and thus those males don't engage in serious fighting.
But remove all but a few of those males and they will kill each other as they try to establish their own territories.
It seems that male cherryhead redfoots engage in a similar behavior. People who keep numerous males together--especially in confined areas--never really get the big fights that those of us who attempt to maintain only a couple of males together get.
My advice for those who work with this race of redfoot is that if you do plan on keeping adult males in the same enclosure, make sure you keep a close eye on them for signs of aggression.
