# Can i house these species together?



## tupacliveson16 (Jun 14, 2013)

Hey everybody! I was curious enough to ask if i can house a red foot, a yellow foot, and a cherryhead red foot all together? If they are all about the same age? I can care for them in the best way possible. If something is to happen, i can always make them an enclosure for everyone.


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## abclements (Jun 14, 2013)

I wouldn't house the yellow foot with the red foots. Yellows get way bigger on average and that can be a potential problem. Plus if I remember right, yellows are found much deeper into the forest and have slightly altered care. But I don't see any problems with the two reds.

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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 14, 2013)

abclements said:


> I wouldn't house the yellow foot with the red foots. Yellows get way bigger on average and that can be a potential problem. Plus if I remember right, yellows are found much deeper into the forest and have slightly altered care. But I don't see any problems with the two reds.
> 
> Sent from my LG-P769 using TortForum mobile app



Well thanks for answering. I guess i can't house them then. But i guess i will pick up just the cherryhead.


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## Tom (Jun 14, 2013)

My preference would be to house the three separately.


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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 14, 2013)

Tom said:


> My preference would be to house the three separately.



Not even the RF with the CHRF?


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## Tom (Jun 14, 2013)

tupacliveson16 said:


> Tom said:
> 
> 
> > My preference would be to house the three separately.
> ...



Correct. I like to maintain geographically distinct populations when possible and or practical. I don't put South African Leopards with regular leopards. If I ever get tortoises from known locations, like my Sudan sulcatas, I like to keep them separate, even thought they are the same species as all the other sulcatas.

Cherryheads are a different animal than a standard RF and I think they should be housed separately.


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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 14, 2013)

Oh well that's a bummer..i just read somewhere that they can be housed together. Im trying to find it


http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-31934.html
Here we are


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## Tom (Jun 14, 2013)

I'm sure you could find a thread recommending anything you want.

That's why my posts were prefaced with "My preference..." and "I like to..."

Other people just do whatever they want. Sometimes it works out, and other times their tortoises die from stress or diseases. The safest bet is to keep them in groups of their own kind or alone.


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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 14, 2013)

Tom said:


> I'm sure you could find a thread recommending anything you want.
> 
> That's why my posts were prefaced with "My preference..." and "I like to..."
> 
> Other people just do whatever they want. Sometimes it works out, and other times their tortoises die from stress or diseases. The safest bet is to keep them in groups of their own kind or alone.



I understand, and i believe i will just stick with a RF then.


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## porter (Jun 16, 2013)

I house a redfoots with a cherry heads with no problems at all, it's just personal opinions on wether to not mix regional tortoises. So its totally up to you.


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## jax7271 (Jun 16, 2013)

I would house them separately as well


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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 16, 2013)

Well thanks Porter, thanks Jax!
However, seeing that people have experienced success with housing the two species, and i have been doing overwhelming research, and I will be housing the two species.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 16, 2013)

In nature, yellowfoots are found only in tropical rainforests. Redfoots have some ability to infiltrate rainforests, but they are usually found in tropical savannas, with cherry-headed redfoots being from farther south and east, and able to live in colder climates. So, although yellowfoots and redfoots don't usually meet, they sometimes do, and on rare occasions have even been known to hybridize in the wild.

From an environmental requirements standpoint, you could keep redfoots and yellowfoots together. From a disease-sharing standpoint, they probably don't pose a big risk to each other, either, because they probably have similar histories of pathogen exposure. The problem, though, is that they are likely to hybridize in captivity a lot more often than they would in the wild, and that is not good for the integrity of the parent species. Likewise, you could house yellow-headed and cherry-headed redfoots together. However, because they are considered the same species, they would also be likely to cross. This is not desirable, because they come from distant populations that would not normally come into contact. This is why it is usually best to avoid mixing closely related species or variants, including _Chelonoidis_ tortoises.


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## bigred (Jun 16, 2013)

You will get different opinions on this and thats why we are here. I would house the cherryhead and redfoot together as long as they are the same size


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## theelectraco (Jun 16, 2013)

bigred said:


> You will get different opinions on this and thats why we are here. I would house the cherryhead and redfoot together as long as they are the same size



I agree. I would personally house a RF and a CH, but not ether with a YF.


0.1.0 Dachshund
0.0.1 Redfoot
1.0.0 Greek


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## abclements (Jun 16, 2013)

Like everybody has said, there are significant differences in everybody's opinions... just make sure that if you do end up breeding them and selling the babies (assuming male and female) you cannot sell them as cherry heads... you need to make sure you announce them as what they are. Just something to think about linguistically...

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Futureistically* my bad lol incorrect can be TOO smart these days 

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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 16, 2013)

Well man..this is a tough debate. I honestly think for the sake of safety, i will just house the RF and CH together. But I really want this YF.


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