'Surprise, surprise'

[Yellow Turtle01]

My painted turtles are bullying each other. I've seen no sign before today, so I'm actually kind of shocked and sad it took me so long to get a reality check.
As usual, the pair didn't work out.
I'm actually not surprised at all, because with all the stories about bullying and aggression, I knew that the time would come when it was time to say goodbye to having a 'blissful, harmonious' relationship work out between two MALE turtles.
Why did I even pair them up???
I sincerely hoped and crossed my fingers that I'd be the one 'lucky' person to get away with having a pair get along 100% without an issues... what?
Oh well. I'm just disappointed, and I feel terrible for the abused turtle Magellan who I paired up with Howi to save him from another abusive turtledom before He's okay, no bleeding or marks. I've separated them, and am already thinking about the future of these two 'buddies'.
Pairs just don't work out. No matter how much space you have, all the sight blockers, basking spots and hides in the world can't conserve a happy, joyous pair for long. Even if it takes YEARS, one will see the other... and the other won't be able to get away... and the bullying will begin.

 

[Anthony P]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with these guys. Community keeping is never an exact science. It's true that aggression is always a possibility, but don't blame yourself for giving it a shot.

I keep certain species separately in small enclosures. Although space is limited for each animal, they seem to do very well and live with low stress. Helps with foo aggression, lineage documentation for breeding, and avoiding the common pesky male that wants to breed everyone. It's admittedly tough to do that for aquatic species like Chrysemys.

 

[ETTB1314]

Sorry about that. I used to have that issue with my pair, when they were 2-3 weeks with me. They were 1.5" then. They would push and kick at each other and sometimes bite each other, the tail, the limbs, even the heads! I was really scared then so I tried to put in some 'toys' just some pots and some of those aquarium accessories to keep them entertained to stop them from harassing each another. That worked, but I decided to remove all of them because there was simply not much space for them to swim around anymore. So I kept another month of a clear tank with nothing in it except filter and a floating platform and a light. And to my surprise they learnt to live in harmony. All the aggression stops and they would bask together. Sometimes one would climb onto the other as well and vice versa.

So now one of them has grown to be 2" and the other still remains at 1.5" (it still worries me because its been 2 & 1/2 months since I got them)

In the tank now I still have the necessaries like the dock, the filter and light. And I placed in just a rock and something like clay tiles glued together to form a triangle, like a ramp. The bigger one has shown no interest though but the little guy I nickname the climber cuz he likes to climb onto the rock and "fall down" from it. And he would climb onto the filter. And also climb onto the triangle ramp I placed free standing, so when he reaches the top he would pretend to leap from the top and sink to the bottom of the tank. Very funny and interesting to watch.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Hopefully now that yours are separated, they'll begin to grown and 'branch out' a little more

 

[ETTB1314]

Oh sorry for the confusion. They are not separated. I just changed the tank throughout the process.

Also I realised I provide pots but they never go into them. Not sure why but they would either stand on top of it and never go in, or go in and quickly swim out. So this form of "hiding" place was noy helpful for me.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

What now? Two separate ponds? Yikes.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

What now? Two separate ponds? Yikes.

I'm not sure. My RES are going in a pond, that's for sure, and now I'm a little concerned that having 3 big turtles in a confined space will be a terrible idea, considering they'd be able to do much more damage to each other!
If the painted's go outside for the summer, it's likely they won't be in pond, because they are so small I can easily just bring them in... but chances are the big turtles will be hibernating this winter!
Do you have any ponds?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

My ponds are full of Koi and rescued feeder Comets. I have no aquatic turtles. There was a baby snapping turtle in the larger pond that a neighbor gave me but I set him free in a canal....the canal in which he was "found" as a baby. He had eaten several goldfish by that time on top if his pellets. My ponds are probably too heavily planted to use for turtles in the "jungle" look that I currently have. There are no beach areas. The photo is of a plantain/ banana plant on the edge of the smaller pond, but you get the picture. Very tropical...A nice way of saying that I'm too lazy to trim my plants very often.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I like koi! Hmm... heavily planted could be good for turtles if I kept it trimmed.
(It's a goo look for yours )