What would you do? (different sized tortoises in same enclosure)

Just looking for some insight. IF (big on the if) I ever decided to make a tort enclosure large enough to house all 2 Redfoots together rather than separately... What do you do to make sure smaller torts stay safe in a little bit bigger torts world? Example: making sure the bigger tort has efficient enough water while keeping the littles safe? Etc. Anyone with 2 torts want to share on how you keep them all happy TIA

I generally don't keep different sized tortoises together until they're all close to the same size. Right now I have three separate enclosures for three different sized Manouria tortoises. They won't all be housed together until the smaller ones gains enough size to be close to the same size as the largest ones.

Tortoises of any size are bull dozers. The bigger ones will just walk all over the smaller ones and may hurt them.

The Best advice is don’t kept two tortoises Together.

Tortoises should never be housed in pairs. RFs are usually pretty agreeable to company, so groups of three or more can work, but not always, and never pairs.

Keep them separate. @ZEROPILOT will advise you the best. I keep Sulcata, 2 males, and they just want to fight. In fact, they smell each other and it's on.

The term safety in numbers is the truth.
It's best to keep Redfoot singly.
But if you have a few hundred square feet of space. And the bigger the better. Multiple tortoises work best. Because it spreads out the agression.
No single animal gets persued or harrassed 24/7.
No two Redfoot act the same way.
Some are very calm. Some are not.
It's never guaranteed that any combination or number will or wont work out.
You'll have to make your enclosure as large as you can. Get at least three Redfoot with no more than one of them being a mature male. And be prepared to make changes.
The photo is of one of my pens that I had to make into two because of bullying. It grew into an apartment complex with doors to let them socialize or stay away.
It has taken me years to assemble my group of 4 females.
I'm just not comfortable suggesting groups. Much less pairs.
And Redfoot are one of the most peaceful tortoises.
Make something very large. As large as you can.
Plant lots of plants and feed in at least two areas. Not one communal food bowl.
My primary pen is roughly 250 square feet. For 4 Redfoot, it is small. But my group is "proven".
That takes many months.

Tom said:

Tortoises should never be housed in pairs. RFs are usually pretty agreeable to company, so groups of three or more can work, but not always, and never pairs.

Click to expand...

I have 3 ?

Yvonne G said:

I generally don't keep different sized tortoises together until they're all close to the same size. Right now I have three separate enclosures for three different sized Manouria tortoises. They won't all be housed together until the smaller ones gains enough size to be close to the same size as the largest ones.

Tortoises of any size are bull dozers. The bigger ones will just walk all over the smaller ones and may hurt them.

Click to expand...

Sorry i wrote 2 but i have 3 torts

Tom said:

Tortoises should never be housed in pairs. RFs are usually pretty agreeable to company, so groups of three or more can work, but not always, and never pairs.

Click to expand...

Sorry i wrote 2 but i have 3, 2 smaller and one larger, currently all seperate but was just curious

I’ll add my two cents here, from 10+ years with the species:

The “rule” is no pairs, and groups must be female heavy and all similar sized.

But... every rule has at least a couple exceptions. With redfoots, breaking the rules might work....sometimes. I have kept a male/female pair together many years without problems, and I now cohabitate this pair with their offspring (four 6” juveniles). I will note their enclosure is filled with tall grass where they can hide from each other easily.

Now... if you want to break the rules, many times it won’t work. Years ago, before I got the male, I had 2 females and the 2nd female was awful. It was nothing but problems trying to keep them together and I got rid of the mean one. I am prepared to separate mine at a moments notice if I need to.

It’s much simpler not to discuss exceptions, because on the forum we tend to see a lot of people that show up and swear their tortoises love each other, they are a bonded pair, etc. This is always BS and often there are often clear signs of aggression that people are willfully ignoring.

Steve