Tortoise expert/advice wanted. Can you help?

Question

Have a 3 yr old tortoise, not sure what type he is but was wondering if it is safe for him to share his pen with a different breed of tortoise, also a young tortoise of around the same size. Had various sources telling me i can others telling me i cant due to an illness possible being passed on to each other. Any help will be appreciated.

Hi,
Thanks for all the help so far, just to add, your right i should find out the breed of the young'n the reason i dont know is his parents were given to me by my grandad. They seen quite happy living with the UK climate and lay eggs yearly and hibernate quite happily, ( the tortoise, not my grandad) i dont know if this helps. Great advice from you all.

Answer 1

#1 - You MUST determine what kind of tortoises you have! Different specie require different care ie a red foot tort requires a humid, moist environment & a diet that includes fruit & some animal protein whereas a sulcata needs a dry environment & a strictly vegetarian diet. They would not make good pen mates!
#2 - Most tortoise exprts say NEVER mix species. One species may carry a disease causing vector that it is basically imune to but will sicken or kill another species. At the very minimum you should quarentine the different torts from 3 to 6 months to determine they are healthy enough to mix with other torts. During that time, you should take your torts to a vet for fecal exams & any other appropriate tests your vet might suggest.
If all the torts pass the quarentine tests and the torts require the same care, there is still the size question. Large torts may hurt smaller torts especially large males that are "ramming". Ramming is usually carried out by sexually active males but is sometimes done by any tort trying to be dominant over other torts.

Good luck! Do your reading before mixing the torts!!!

Answer 2

Tortoises can share pens so long as the care needs for each tortoise is met, AND each tortoise has adequate space for thier needs- usually about 100 square inches per inch of shell. Smaller pens encourage aggression and territoriality.

It worries me that you don't know what type of tortoise you have. This means you probably are not providing the best possible care, since almost every species has specific needs.

You cannot mix a desert species with a forest species, or a high temp species with a lower temp species, high humidity with low humidity, etc.

Your first job is not to get a new tortoise, it is to identify your current tortoise and figure out its real needs. Next you have to make sure you are giving it good care.

Once the cares are rock solid, THEN you can think about adding another tortoise.

These sites can help. The first is a good general purpose site, the second is a diet site I really like.

Answer 3

They can be very territorial. After a quarentine to make sure the "new guy?" is healthy try them out when you are around to intervene. They don't generally hurt each other because in the wild on can leave. If the aggressor thinks the other isn't backing down because he's got nowhere to go he could flip him over and cause a major problem. If they can't flip back they slowly suffocate. This all sounds terrible. They may get along great or get along till they're older and their breeding drive kicks in. Good luck

Answer 4

You should try to keep the 2 tortoises apart for a while (a couple of months), so that you make sure that the new one is healthy. Then, they may share the pen.

Also, it would be a good idea to find out what type the other tortoise is--this way, you'll be able to provide for him all the care he needs.

Here is a link to a site dedeicated to tortoises:

http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/

and here are a couple of tortoise caresheets:

http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/caresheets/index.htm

Answer 5

attempt contacting a close-by zoo or animal reserve. We had an iguana who grew to an massive length - too vast for the domicile - and we discovered him a house at a close-by butterfly conservatory. Your neighbour shouldn't imagine of promoting the tortoise - how'd he want to be bought by ability of someone who saved him round for decades? - yet of the tortoise's perfect pastimes, that are a reliable domicile the position he could properly be left in peace and probability-free practices from those who could harm him in a myriad techniques.

Answer 6

All else fails call your local university and speak to a herpatologist, they will be able to answer your question. But i would think the big possible problem would be the cross contamination of parasites or other diseases. the only other concern would be if there is enough space in your enclosure for both to move about unhindered by the other.

Answer 7

yes let the tortois help ok man