I have 2 RES, one female and one male. They are both 12 years old. The female is about 7 inches and the male is about 4 inches. They both reside in a two story tank with the bottom being 100 gallons of water and the top being a 40 gal. tank meant for basking only. The have lived together for all 12 years with separation not lasting longer than 5 hours.
In the past 4-5 months the female has rejected the males mating and wants nothing to do with him. In turn, the male has become very aggressive. He bites her on her back leg area and latches on until I physically separate them. I am scared he is hurting her and will eventually break the skin. I can tell she is extremely stressed when he is around and she does not fight back but rather subdue to the pain.
I have read other forums that say to chill the water, change their diet, get a bigger tank, and separate them for certain time periods and none of this is working. I have recently upgraded the tank from 60 gallons to 100 gallons and added the basking area to give them both plenty of space and this did not change any attitudes. They have been in the new tank for about 3 months and the aggression continues. I have changed their scenery several different times and added/removed different things to help with variety. I have varied their diet with fruits, vegetables, and pellets and I have chilled the water several different times.
I am at a loss of what to do and very reluctant to rehome the male turtle. I don't have the space or means for another tank set up as my current one is about $1,000 setup that I cannot do again at this point in time.
Any advice or pointers would help from fellow turtle lovers, I would try anything that I haven't already at this point.
Thank you
