i have 2 spur thighs.I rescued one 2 days ago hes 1 1/2 years old and my tortoise clark is 8 months old.the size difference is huge i feed mine grass hibiscus leafs and a veriety of other plants.the guy i rescued is 5 times clarks size and was feed a diet of strictly lettuce and has bad pyrmiding.ive read all over my books but can find this question out.at such young ages can i keep them in the same pin without them fighting.niether is of breading age should i be worried?

you mean, after quarantining, right?

Kelly's right I would definitely quarantine this new tort. There are different thoughts on quarantine times. Some say 3 months, some 6, and other even a year, but Quarantine is definitely warranted. What sizes are we speaking of? I believe fighting is more prevalent after breeding age. But (my personnel opinion is) I would not place 2 vastly different size torts in together.

This post was last modified: 02-20-2008 08:36 AM by Crazy1.

Remember Clark.. you're talking sulcata! And they at ANY age can get [ and keep ] an attitude toward anything that gets in their "hood"!

IMO those guys will need seperate enclosures for a long time.. maybe forever.

Want to hear a quick story? A friend at Alligator Adventure in N. Myrtle Beach,SC has a BIG sulcata that pushes around everybody in there large outside pen.. [ those are 6"x6" fence posts ]..



.. and I was advised to be careful while in the pen taking pics.. he was right - that dude was comin' at me while I took the pics! BIG spur-thigh!!!

Terry

This post was last modified: 02-20-2008 09:03 PM by Redfoot NERD.

He is a cutie though Terry (look @ that smile), I definatly think it was worth the pics. I saw one a few weeks ago and he was chasing the kids around the yard, it was quite funny. He actually ate for the first time that day when the kids picked a bunch of weeds from the guys yard and put them in his food bowl (he had just arrived a week before). It was great. Clark, my new one is in quaratine, but when he gets out I will still keep them seperated do to the difference in size. Hope that helps.

Yeah.. cutie!!!

My friend at 6'2" and 250# jumped up on his back and he ( sulcata ) didn't flinch.. kept on comin'!!! No doubt thinking.. as he was smiling - "AHH.. knees to RAM"!!!

Terry

Yeah, but Terry, I'm sure he was just playing Sulcata (tortoise) games "Take out the intruders”. More exercise than video games

I wouldnt keep them together clark. Its awesome that you are trying to adopt tortoises. Keeping one sulcata is very hard. Keeping two is a mission bro. I have three large ones now and two are males..... It very hard. Fact is, they will fight if not now then in the near future. How are you housing them now and what is your plan for the future?

i have clark in a 6foot by 4 pen hes about 4 inches and the new guy in a 4 foot by 4foot pen.i am keeping them seperate.i do relize the daunting task of raising another spur thigh and am looking to find the new one a good home hes only 8 months older then clark but is 8 times clarks size[/i].the previous owner was feeding him meal worms and iceburg lettuce.i couldnt sleep knowing this so i convinced him to let me take him.it took him a week to move or eat i dont know if this was due to diet or if it was because its a new enviroment.hes eating grass now and moving around alot more.

Having rescues is hard, bad diet will make them not move alot, the protien can also harm the liver making them not move alot...the tortoise is now on the correct diet and you did the right thing getting it help so I'm not going into all the things that CAN be wrong.

I have a 2 year old who bullies my 7 year old, of course the 2 year old is smaller but he has an additude and keeps ramming the older one no matter how big the cage. Even if there is plastic seperating them he rams it trying.