Grouping by age / sex

Tolis

Active Member
Tortoise Club
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
217
Location (City and/or State)
Cyprus EU
Good afternoon everyone. I need some advice for my greek torts. I have
2 adults male and female around 20 years old
2 male adolescents around 4 and 5 years old
7 babies 2 years old
The adult female is kept in a separate pen alone so does the adult male.
The two adolescents turned out to be males and have been trying to rape the babies since they woke up this spring. I have moved them with the adult male and as I was expecting all 3 are being aggressive to each other biting and ramming the smaller one. I am surprised that the 5 year old seems to be the boss instead of the bigger 20 year old.
I have moved the younger male with the female since he is quite smaller than her and cant really harm her trying to breed her but I assume he will still be a source of stress for her.
The obvious solution is to keep the males separated but that would mean I would have 5 different pens to build and look after.

I am thinking of just planting lots of shrubs and hiding places in the male pen and just hope they dont kill each other.

I would appreciate the advice of other members on how they deal with these matters.

Thanks!
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,265
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
The obvious solution is to keep the males separated but that would mean I would have 5 different pens to build and look after.
The obvious solution is often the best solution. A large well planted pen will result in males marching around all day patrolling the territory and looking for a fight. You have run into what we often tell people wen they have multiple tortoises. If a bunch end up male, you may need a separate enclosure for each one. As it turns out, YOU need a separate enclosure for each male and the poor female too. As the babies age, you may need separate pens for each of them too.

I went through this with my SA leopards. 9 of 12 ended up male and try as I might, I had to make a separate enclosure for each male. I sold off seven males and kept 2, plus the three females. The three females live together in a large enclosure very peacefully, but each male has to live alone most of the year, and with one or two day visits to the female enclosure for breeding periodically during the season. I wanted one large enclosure, but ended up with 10 for a while, and now down to 3 enclosures.
 
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