The Murtle/Seneca Union failed :(

[Alicewave]

Well, I attempted to put Murtle and Seneca in Murtles 20 gallon Long today. First I bleached everything. Then I used some of Seneca's stuff and some of Murtle's stuff to make a new arrangement in the tank. Or so I thought. I put the two of them in together at the same time. Unfortunately I noticed that we left one of Murtle's caves in about the same place as before and I happened to place her in the tank right near it without thinking. She stayed right there, climbed over it a bit and then went in it to hide. I think she recognized it as still being her territory. Meanwhile Seneca explored the tank all over. He passed by Murtle once with no conflict. the second time he came around he climbed on top of the cave Murtle was in and stared at her. Then he started doing this weird dance for her. He sauntered around contorting his belly, dragging his butt on the ground, and waving but not rattling his tail. Then he faced away from the opening of Murtle's cave and waved his tail back and forth low to the ground. I thought perhaps it was a mating dance, or at least Seneca exerting his dominance. Then the idiot decides to go into the cave with Murtle. Then I heard a stuggle. I couldn't really see what was going on but I could tell someone got bit. Chris thought we should let them duke it out for a bit but it seemed to get worse and I didn't want any lost tails to I lifted up the cave and Murtle has Seneca by the throat with her jaws! Her jaws were totally locked. We tried to pry her mouth open but it wasn't happening. We took them out of the tank and onto the bed hoping they would separate but Murtle just flaied Seneca around. Seneca bit Chris in the process of trying to separate them. Finally they fell on the floor which startled Murtle enough to get her to open her mouth. Ei Yei Yei!!! Anyway. Seneca definitely has some missing skin on his neck which I treated with Neosporin. He is otherwise ok. I'm letting him stay in the 20 gallon and I moved Murtles cave to another place. My plan is to give Seneca some time to establish the whole tank as his territory and then try putting Murtle in. I have Murtle set up in a simple 10 gallon right now with none of her former toys.

How long should I keep them separated before trying to introduce Murtle again? I'm at least going to wait until Seneca heals. Can anyone tell me what they think of this behavior? I can use all the advice I can get at this point. I am still thinking Murtle may be a hot female but she didn't rattle her tail this time so I dunno. *sigh*