So I go to Petco for some feeders....

[methos75]

and your evidence is where? I know a few members turtles who are happy by them selves. but some when alone are way less active but with a friend way more active.... Every turtle has a diff personality.

Nice turtles man!! Good job saving them before(all of them!!) some nut case would of taken them for that deal!

I have learned this the hard way through 25 years of keeping Turtles, I have had way more disaster stories than happy endings with keeping community tanks with Turtles

 

[Zfishies]

But u HAD happy endings in a turtle community tank. Just less of the time. What were the diff in the personalitys of the turtles in the solitary tanks and community setup tanks. And how many times did you try a another turtle with your solitary's?

 

[adellababe]

I'm sure whether its fish, or turtles, or whatever..... sometimes theres one bad apple that has to spoil it. I once got a RES from a friend who got pregnant and didn't want her turtle anymore... it didn't mesh well with my male painted so I rehomed it to someone else. But, I didn't let that one turtle battle ruin my whole view on keeping more than one turtle together.

 

[EricIvins]

LOL at this whole topic, while it was a good deal, I wish people would stop anthropomorphizing Reptiles and thinking they have friends or get lonely cause neither happens. African Sidenecks are not good community turtles and as they age they are going to rip each other to shreds, they are not friends.

That's not true at all - Subrufa can be kept in small groups with no issues......Most Pelusios can.....

 

[methos75]

That's not true at all - Subrufa can be kept in small groups with no issues......Most Pelusios can.....

My own personal experience states other wise, I have owned five over the last 25 years and all were bullies and show immense aggression towards tank and pond mates, I even had one that harass and eventually killed a Eastern Painted Turtle bigger than it was in a 500 Gal pond where they had plenty of personal space. In my experience, this are really aggressive Turtles.

 

[snakefin]

I don't know if the sliders are being mixed with the African Sidenecks, but if they are. That is a really bad idea. As for Methos, if you would argue through experience, I think Eric will in general prove you to be quite wrong. As an exporter, I'm sure he has a load of several more hundreds of African Sidenecks. But the point is, someone needs to make a religion out of not mixing reptiles. My bad, turtles aren't quite my thing so just take this with a pinch of salt.

Edit: I kind of read varying information about whether mixing Pelomedusa is a good idea...I guess its the usual debate then.

 

[methos75]

Eric's experience is also what tends to cloud his real knowledge on keeping these turtles as we do, in small community tanks. Keeping them as I have in small numbers in smaller tanks leads to behaviors vastly different than dealing with them in numbers in the hundreds or higher, an important distinction to remember.

 

[A. gigas]

Eric's experience is also what tends to cloud his real knowledge on keeping these turtles as we do, in small community tanks. Keeping them as I have in small numbers in smaller tanks leads to behaviors vastly different than dealing with them in numbers in the hundreds or higher, an important distinction to remember.

I'm afraid that I must agree with this. While Eric does have a lot of experience keeping reptiles, he holds a much different position than most people do, with many more resources. So, his care methods can be more elaborate, and therefore his results can be different than they would be if the animals were kept in a more common setup.

 

[EricIvins]

Eric's experience is also what tends to cloud his real knowledge on keeping these turtles as we do, in small community tanks. Keeping them as I have in small numbers in smaller tanks leads to behaviors vastly different than dealing with them in numbers in the hundreds or higher, an important distinction to remember.

I keep Turtles like everyone else.......I've kept both common and rare Pelusios/Pelomedusa and I have never had problems.......

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why my "real knowledge" is so clouded, after all, I do produce my own Offspring from Turtles in my collection......

But I digress.......

Of course you're going to have problems when you stick Africans with any American Turtle.......That's just common sense......Just like anything else African, they are tough animals prepared to deal with just about anything.......That comparison is apples and oranges.......Why would you take something like a Painted or any kind of Slider and keep it with a Mud Turtle? Two different species adapted to two different situations. Pelusios are shallow water bottom walkers, not swimmers.......Take a look at the video - I think it shows it all, including them being somewhat social.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WpTAEixZlo


[YT]http://youtu.be/0WpTAEixZlo[/YT]

 

[adellababe]

I keep Turtles like everyone else.......I've kept both common and rare Pelusios/Pelomedusa and I have never had problems.......

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why my "real knowledge" is so clouded, after all, I do produce my own Offspring from Turtles in my collection......

But I digress.......

Of course you're going to have problems when you stick Africans with any American Turtle.......That's just common sense......Just like anything else African, they are tough animals prepared to deal with just about anything.......That comparison is apples and oranges.......Why would you take something like a Painted or any kind of Slider and keep it with a Mud Turtle? Two different species adapted to two different situations. Pelusios are shallow water bottom walkers, not swimmers.......Take a look at the video - I think it shows it all, including them being somewhat social.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WpTAEixZlo


[YT]http://youtu.be/0WpTAEixZlo[/YT]

The painted turtles are in one tank, the mud is in another tank, and the sidenecks are in a 3rd tank. We got the mud when it was not 100% so I've been treating it by itself. The sidenecks were put in a temporary separate tank until we could learn more about them to see what we should do. The original thing that seemed absurd to us was the guy saying that they were going to rip each other apart. Right now, there are two hanging out together checking out the basking platform and the 3rd one is hanging out by the bubble stone.