I have an african sulcada tortoise, and today we got a new one that came from a rescue shelter. My original one, Rex, is quite a bit bigger than the new one, Leo. Rex has been constantly humping Leo. Leo continues to walk, s/he doesn't stop and wait. Rex will stop for a minute, and then start circling Leo and sniffing her/him. Then he'll try again to get on Leo. We don't know if Leo is a male or female, but we are pretty sure that Rex is a boy. I don't know if Rex is trying to show dominance, or is trying to mate, or anything. We've had Rex for years now, and he's been living in our backyard for maybe about three or four years now. Rex has flipped over once from being on top of Leo, and Leo has also flipped over once from trying to climb Rex's head, and Rex charging him.
Does anyone know if tortoises will still try and mate even if they're both males? How long does it take for tortoises to be accomstomed to each other and get along? Were a little nervous for daytime cause no ones home
2007-11-07 10:39:17 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Reptiles
We built a temperary housing area for Leo, about 8ft x 6ft or so, and it has a little box shelter, a small "pond" trashcan lid dug into the ground, and food. He'll stay in there when we aren't home until they get along better.
We still aren't sure about the sex of Leo, but were thinking he's a male because they've started to charge each other. Has anyone had experience with this? We called a petstore and they said we've most likely got two males, and in a few days after Rex realizes Leo's not a threat, they should stop fighting.
Leo has started to fight back now, and try to charge and move Rex around as well.
Hopefully it'll be okay, they seem to be fighting more now, but Rex doesn't really hump him anymore. Well, he does, but now they fight more than Rex does that.
2007-11-08 13:16:56 · update #1
Rex could hurt Leo. You may need to seperate them soon.
Also males have been know to flip each other and sulcata do not right themselves very well.
If Leo is female Rex will torment Leo to the point it could cause health issues.
more great yahoo groups
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/African-Tortoise/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/WCT_Online_Turtle_and_Tortoise_Care/
This site has a lot of great info
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/sulcatacare.htm
2007-11-08 11:00:30 · answer #1 · answered by Kimg 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sulcatas can be pretty aggressive. You are going to want to keep them seperated any time you can't supervise. Sexing adult sulcatas is pretty easy to do, just look online for comparison pictures of the underpart of the shell where the tail is.
It sounds like you've got some major dominance/territory issues going on. If they're both males, this might never end and you may have to rehome one of them. For more info, there's a good yahoogroup called Tortoise Trust, also check out sulcata-station.org
2007-11-07 18:45:12 · answer #2 · answered by kittenslayer 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your tortoises are showing aggression, a bad sign of stress. Sulcatas are combative to begin with- and you should never combine two of either gender in too small of a space.
You do not tell us how big the guys are, but even a middle-sized Sulcata needs more like 20x20' than 8'x6', and an adult could feel crowded in a 50-25 back yard.
Give http://www.tortoisetrust.org and http://www.africantortoise.com for more info.
2007-11-13 23:40:26 · answer #3 · answered by Madkins007 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
please look into and join this yahoo group it is excellent there are a lot of knowlageable people on there that can help you with any of your questions. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/sulcatastation/
2007-11-07 18:44:26 · answer #4 · answered by sherri 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋