1 Male Russian Tortoise just over 4 inches for sale or trade!

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grogansilver

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I have 1 Male Russian tortoise just over 4 inches for sale $100.00 picked up or will trade for a female Russian tortoise. the reason why i have to part with my male is because i have a larger male who feels he is the boss! and one has to go! my email address is [email protected] or cell # is 1 845 820-7614 ask for Anthony.
 

grogansilver

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GeoTerraTestudo said:
Wish I could, but I only have room for the male and female I have now.
thats okay somebody will snatch him up hes worth it he is CB and does have a wonderful personality i just have to choose one of them to go and i feel bad but its for his safety from the larger male.
 

grogansilver

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GeoTerraTestudo said:
Yep, safety first. You should keep them separated until you can rehome him.
I have to ask you something sense your so familiar and so sure of your self on this subject with the Russian tortoises, why is it I go to the pet shops and I'm not talking just one but many pet shops and I see at least ten or more males put together in one tank and there is no fights or signs of egression or injuries among them! And I know they are males for a fact together in those enclosures because they the person who sells them tells me so and the females are separated into another enclosure of them selves also. Why is it that I have a pair of males that just don't get along and I doubt it has to do with enclosure size because all of what I see is a lot smaller then what I am providing for mine as far as enclosure goes! Can you or some one answer this question on here for me?
 

ascott

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I am going to give my two cents on this, hope you don't mind :p You may be having "pair" issues in addition to two males issues. You can absolutely have two males in the same enclosure....you will certainly have undue stress "as a norm"...there are those exceptions in which you will have the exact personalities, the exact temper and the moon and the tide and sun are all lined up and all goes well with two males.

However, when you have pairs of same sex (more so males than females) you will have usually have a higher level of stress in your enclosure and you do not have to see it all the time in outright bullying...you may see it in one giving way to another more, one giving way to the other for first food, one giving way to another for choice sleeping spots, etc....however, just because one gives way does not meen that it is natural for that to happen....males generally will only lay with each other in sleep and will become gladiators outside of that...and that is the way it should be. When we force them to do the "get along" thing, IN MY OPINION, we are causing them to act less like normal males.

Also, you say that the pet stop staff is the reason you "know" that they are males vs females....hmmmm...there are very experienced tortoise keepers here on this forum who I would guess will agree, that those little/tiny/baby tortoise (usually babies) that are in the pet stop are way to small to BE CERTAIN of their sex....so I would NEVER take the word as a reason to "know" for certain the sex of a young tortoise from someone that works in a pet stop (and I don't mean that as a negative, only a belief) while from time to time you will find knowledgeable keepers as staff in pet stops it is not the norm (in my experience). :D
 

GeoTerraTestudo

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grogansilver said:
GeoTerraTestudo said:
Yep, safety first. You should keep them separated until you can rehome him.
I have to ask you something sense your so familiar and so sure of your self on this subject with the Russian tortoises, why is it I go to the pet shops and I'm not talking just one but many pet shops and I see at least ten or more males put together in one tank and there is no fights or signs of egression or injuries among them! And I know they are males for a fact together in those enclosures because they the person who sells them tells me so and the females are separated into another enclosure of them selves also. Why is it that I have a pair of males that just don't get along and I doubt it has to do with enclosure size because all of what I see is a lot smaller then what I am providing for mine as far as enclosure goes! Can you or some one answer this question on here for me?

Re: males in a pet store cage
Yes, it is interesting that male Russians fight at home, but not at the pet store. Actually, this phenomenon is not limited to Russian tortoises. You find it in a lot of animals, from fish to reptiles to mammals. In a word, the answer is that they don't feel well enough while they're in the store to fight! There are several reasons for this, or a combination of these:

1) The animals are ill from being transported to the pet store.
2) The animals are too cold or too hot, and don't have the energy to fight.
3) The animals are malnourished and too hungry or thirsty to fight.
4) The animals are too new or too crowded to defend a territory. This probably happens quite often. If you stick 3 male Russian tortoises in a small cage, they won't have the inclination to fight. Either they haven't been there long enough to think of the cage as their territory, or even if they do, with so many opponents in such a small space, they are overwhelmed. The last phenomenon may be thought of as a form of the "dilution effect," in which an aggressive animal nevertheless seems peaceful, because his aggressive behavior (or sexual advancing) is spread out over many individuals, so that no one individual gets the brunt of his attacks.

So there you have it. But if you bring a couple of male Russians home and take good care of them, they will sooner or later be strong enough and comfortable enough to feel like they have something worth fighting for! :)
 

grogansilver

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I like #4) The animals are too new or too crowded to defend a territory

probably happens quite often. If you stick 3 male Russian tortoises in a small cage, they won't have the inclination to fight. Either they haven't been there long enough to think of the cage as their territory, or even if they do, with so many opponents in such a small space, they are overwhelmed. I belive this reason to be very true among the pet trade its what I thought. But let me say Dam! This large male in one day took claim of his territory! And he wasn't from no pet shop! And as far as ascott explains her situation please try not to insult my intelligence if I tell you I see a tank full of tortoises that are labeled males and females and there not juveniles! Then this is the way it is! I'm not a stupid person I usually tell it like I see it! :) and by the way male Russians are going for $100.00 and the females $150.00 there is a big difference there wouldn't you say so! False advertising is a big thing here I think id be pretty pissed off to find out a year later it wasn't what I bought a pair! Plus you can tell at least with this species the sexes very easily tail difference here! Well thank you for your help both of you hope fully I can salve this problem hay any you two interested in the Russian male for sale? :)
 

GeoTerraTestudo

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Like I say, I wish I had room to develop a "herd" of Russian tortoises, but right now all I have room for is my one male and one female. Someday I'll get more, but not yet.

As for Ascott's post, I'm sure nobody was trying to insult your intelligence. More like just trying to cover all the bases.
 
C

Claireabbo

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ascott said:
I am going to give my two cents on this, hope you don't mind :p You may be having "pair" issues in addition to two males issues. You can absolutely have two males in the same enclosure....you will certainly have undue stress "as a norm"...there are those exceptions in which you will have the exact personalities, the exact temper and the moon and the tide and sun are all lined up and all goes well with two males.

However, when you have pairs of same sex (more so males than females) you will have usually have a higher level of stress in your enclosure and you do not have to see it all the time in outright bullying...you may see it in one giving way to another more, one giving way to the other for first food, one giving way to another for choice sleeping spots, etc....however, just because one gives way does not meen that it is natural for that to happen....males generally will only lay with each other in sleep and will become gladiators outside of that...and that is the way it should be. When we force them to do the "get along" thing, IN MY OPINION, we are causing them to act less like normal males.

Also, you say that the pet stop staff is the reason you "know" that they are males vs females....hmmmm...there are very experienced tortoise keepers here on this forum who I would guess will agree, that those little/tiny/baby tortoise (usually babies) that are in the pet stop are way to small to BE CERTAIN of their sex....so I would NEVER take the word as a reason to "know" for certain the sex of a young tortoise from someone that works in a pet stop (and I don't mean that as a negative, only a belief) while from time to time you will find knowledgeable keepers as staff in pet stops it is not the norm (in my experience). :D

I VERY much agree! i think that most of the time the people in pet store dont know what thier talking about because they have all kinds of other animals to take care of
you know? :) that just my input! :D
 

tortiechik

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One of the last times I was at Petco, I saw a lady picking out a Russian tortoise and overheard the sales kids say "yes, this one should be a female" and so she asked to see a male and he grabbed another one and said "this one has the same color eyes so I think its a female too". I told the sales kid that both of them were male (in fact there was only one female in the whole lot) and he said "how can you tell?". ... They dont get much training.
 

Mizladyluna

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My 2 cents here... in pet stores over crowding is the method used to control agressive fish (cichlids). By fixing it so that so many creatures are trying to get to the same prime spots coupled with the turnover that comes with being a pet store... no one critter ever actualy becomes dominant in that environment. I KNOW fish are very different than torts, however the method would work in the short term with just about any species. Pretty sad, and the poor novice sees a bunch of peaceful seeming critters.... till they get home!
 

Bow

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I've been the resident "nerd" in a pet store for almost a year now. I tend to try to use lots of hides/blinds in my more aggressive fish and reptile tanks, aggressive fish like cichlids are also less aggressive if you feed them real food and LOTS of it ( my babies get 3 blood worm cubes a day) I've never had to care for tortoises at work though. If their really young though it might explain the lack of aggression.
 
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