Although I always prefer to post my successes on the forum, I feel that in the interest of us all leaning to be the best tortoise/turtle keepers we can be, I should also post lessons I learned the hard way. Things that made a difference for my turtle.
I kept Nelson, my captive-bred razor backed musk turtle, in a 20 gal long aquarium when he was a tiny hatchling and as a youngster. When he got bigger, I moved him to a 40 gallon breeder thank, thinking this would be his permanent tank. This worked well for a couple of years, but he continued to grow.
By the time he was 5 years old, he was big CHONK of a fella at 5+ inches long, and pretty hefty, too.
And now he was getting aggressive. I mean CRAZY aggressive. He reacted very strongly to our 3 cats, NONE of which ever bothered him in any way other than apparently existing. When one of them walked past his tank, he would Hulk out at them: paddling and splashing furiously, gaping and snapping violently. When he snapped, he would BASH HIS FACE against the glass wall of the tank! Repeatedly!!!! I could hear the "WHACK" FROM THE NEXT ROOM!!!
It HAD to hurt, and I thought he would quit doing it after a time or 2, but he never did. And all the noisy splashing interested the cats, so they would walk up to his tank and watch The Crazy Turtle Show. I would then yell at them, so they started using that as a means of getting my attention if they wanted food or something. Apparently I am very trainable.
At the advice of some experienced turtle keepers here on the forum, I upgraded him to a 75 gallon tank, which is at least somewhat more appropriate to his size.
He is almost a different animal. His crazy aggression reduced quickly and DRAMATICALLY!!! He still threatens the cats, but the intensity is NOTHING like it was before: He still paddles and splashes furiously, and he gapes at them ominously, but he seldom snaps AT ALL. And there's NO MORE FACE BASHING!!! And sometimes he's content to just give them a condescending side-eye!
So the lessons I learned here is that 1) when it comes to enclosures, bigger is better 2) If an animal is displaying ANY excessive behaviors, then I need to change something, and if I don't know what to change, then 3) advice from experienced keepers is the next sensible step 4) I should never get too proud to ask for help.
And if you read this far, here is a photo of Nelson for your viewing pleasure:
...and here I guess he's signaling for a left-hand turn...
Cheers to all from Mooz!
I kept Nelson, my captive-bred razor backed musk turtle, in a 20 gal long aquarium when he was a tiny hatchling and as a youngster. When he got bigger, I moved him to a 40 gallon breeder thank, thinking this would be his permanent tank. This worked well for a couple of years, but he continued to grow.
By the time he was 5 years old, he was big CHONK of a fella at 5+ inches long, and pretty hefty, too.
And now he was getting aggressive. I mean CRAZY aggressive. He reacted very strongly to our 3 cats, NONE of which ever bothered him in any way other than apparently existing. When one of them walked past his tank, he would Hulk out at them: paddling and splashing furiously, gaping and snapping violently. When he snapped, he would BASH HIS FACE against the glass wall of the tank! Repeatedly!!!! I could hear the "WHACK" FROM THE NEXT ROOM!!!
It HAD to hurt, and I thought he would quit doing it after a time or 2, but he never did. And all the noisy splashing interested the cats, so they would walk up to his tank and watch The Crazy Turtle Show. I would then yell at them, so they started using that as a means of getting my attention if they wanted food or something. Apparently I am very trainable.At the advice of some experienced turtle keepers here on the forum, I upgraded him to a 75 gallon tank, which is at least somewhat more appropriate to his size.
He is almost a different animal. His crazy aggression reduced quickly and DRAMATICALLY!!! He still threatens the cats, but the intensity is NOTHING like it was before: He still paddles and splashes furiously, and he gapes at them ominously, but he seldom snaps AT ALL. And there's NO MORE FACE BASHING!!! And sometimes he's content to just give them a condescending side-eye!
So the lessons I learned here is that 1) when it comes to enclosures, bigger is better 2) If an animal is displaying ANY excessive behaviors, then I need to change something, and if I don't know what to change, then 3) advice from experienced keepers is the next sensible step 4) I should never get too proud to ask for help.
And if you read this far, here is a photo of Nelson for your viewing pleasure:
...and here I guess he's signaling for a left-hand turn...
Cheers to all from Mooz!
!
