# Do Tortoises Get Along?



## jane_goblin (Feb 23, 2013)

Hi!
I am about to purchase (most likely) a second baby Russian Tort. The one I own at the moment is about 6 months old and the one I might adopt is 8 months old. We don't know the genders. Do tortoises generally get along? Do I need to separate them?

Any information helps!
Thanks!!

Thanks


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Feb 23, 2013)

Don't do it unless you have either separate enclosures, or else a lot of room outside for them. Males tend to fight with each other, and sometimes females fight with each other, too. In captivity, if one is male and the other female, then the male is going to court the female too much and may even attack and injure her. Even in the absence of actual violence, the dominant one can still intimidate the subordinant one with subtle body language, causing stress, loss of appetite, illness, etc.

Like most tortoise species, Russian tortoises are not gregarious and don't need to consort with others of their own kind, except to mate. I have a male and a female, and they are housed separately. I let them come into supervised contact from time to time to simulate the kind of random encounters they would experience in the wild. In nature, females have home ranges of about 100 acres, and males of about 50 acres, so they don't meet all that often.


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## Madkins007 (Feb 23, 2013)

Ditto.

Other than red-footeds and a very few other species, you rarely find tortoises hanging out unless there is a good reason, like limited shelter or water, or sharing a windfall of fruit, or, of course, mating.


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## Tom (Feb 23, 2013)

I agree with GTT and Mark.

To answer your question: Sometimes.

Pairs are the least likely to get along. Russians are the least likely to get along. A pair of russians is about worse case scenario in the tortoise world. Just have separate indoor and outdoor enclosures for them and you'll be fine. When they are older and you have a very large outdoor enclosure you can try a single male with 2 or more females and see how it goes. Just be prepared to separate them.


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## GBtortoises (Feb 23, 2013)

It's rarely an issue if they are as young as the ones that you're describing. However, once they get close to sexually maturity in a few years you may have a problem with compatibility. Mature male Russian tortoises are rarely compatible with each other and almost always sexually aggressive with females. Usually only Russian females get along for any length of time.

More importantly at this point is that a newly acquired tortoise from another source should be quarantined and not immediately placed together with an existing tortoise.


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