Adding another tortoise?

James9811

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Hi all!

I’m considering getting another baby tortoise, ours is around a year old now. Does double the tortoise mean I’d need double the space?
 

Thomas tortoise

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Hi all!

I’m considering getting another baby tortoise, ours is around a year old now. Does double the tortoise mean I’d need double the space?
It depends... what kind of tortoises? how much space do you have now? Also you should never have a pair of tortoises a group is good but not a pair. So if you want more then get 2 more so you have three all together. Also they should be about the same size otherwise they will bully each other.
 

Avuwyy

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You will need separate enclosures for these tortoises. Horsfields are territorial, and keeping multiple in an enclosure can lead to bullying, injury, and even death.

If you are hoping to add a second tortoise, you will need a second enclosure. They cannot be kept together. So I suppose the answer would be yes to the ‘double the tortoise, double the space’ question.
 

Ink

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@jsheffield has a creep of Russian tortoises. He should be able to help you.
 

jsheffield

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Hi all!

I’m considering getting another baby tortoise, ours is around a year old now. Does double the tortoise mean I’d need double the space?
Two tortoises, especially Russian Tortoises, likely won't work.

Tortoises do better singly or in creeps with one male and 2-4 females.

I've been very lucky and my Russian females get along...I added them one at a time and always had a "plan-B" housing option in case one or more of the females began bullying or being bullied.

In essence, that means that you have to absolutely know the sexes of the tortoises you're bringing into your life, because multiple males will always battle and have to be housed separately, and the male and your females will need to be housed separately (unless it's a truly huge enclosure, big enough that they can go for long periods of time without encountering one another) because the male will mate with the females until he or they are physically (dangerously) exhausted.

Since you're talking about a baby, and adding another baby, you'd need to plan on the worst case, of them both being males, and so would need a separate enclosures to house each tort in.

Jamie
 

glassbird

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My single Russian male is so territorial that I can't use brown or darkly colored dishes for his food. He will glare at a dark dish, refuse to eat off it, and eventually start ramming it. A white dish is generally not beaten up, and will he might eat off of it, if he is hungry. All in all, he prefers a flat rock for eating. I think the roundness of a dish is just enough to dampen his appetite, regardless of the color.
 

zolasmum

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My single Russian male is so territorial that I can't use brown or darkly colored dishes for his food. He will glare at a dark dish, refuse to eat off it, and eventually start ramming it. A white dish is generally not beaten up, and will he might eat off of it, if he is hungry. All in all, he prefers a flat rock for eating. I think the roundness of a dish is just enough to dampen his appetite, regardless of the color.
That's amazing - really impressive.So, as you say, a flat rock or white square dish would be the only solution. Does he react badly to other particular types of object - have you tried him with a reflective thing - I don't mean a glass mirror, of course.?
Angie
 

Lyn W

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They would need to be housed separately because torts should never be kept in pairs, especially in enclosed spaces where they can't avoid each other. It doesn't matter if the are same sex, male and female or siblings they are solitary creatures and very territorial. They can cause serious injury to another tort and even death.
So if you do get a second ,you are looking at two 4 x 8 feet enclosures - or bigger - eventually.
 

glassbird

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That's amazing - really impressive.So, as you say, a flat rock or white square dish would be the only solution. Does he react badly to other particular types of object - have you tried him with a reflective thing - I don't mean a glass mirror, of course.?
Angie
No, never tried a mirror. Or glass. Oddly, he does not mind my cat hanging out in his fairly large habitat. It is only 3 feet wide, but 12 feet long...with a "rock formation" with a cave. He has his own water fountain, too. (But I have never seen him use it.) The first time I saw her in there, I was sure he was going to give her a piece of his mind...but nope. Apparently its just round dark things that qualify for a beating.

And for anyone concerned about cat vs. turtle safety...yes, that is "top of mind" for me. The cats only have access to this room when I am home and using this room. (It's a craft room, mostly.)
 

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Tom

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No, never tried a mirror. Or glass. Oddly, he does not mind my cat hanging out in his fairly large habitat. It is only 3 feet wide, but 12 feet long...with a "rock formation" with a cave. He has his own water fountain, too. (But I have never seen him use it.) The first time I saw her in there, I was sure he was going to give her a piece of his mind...but nope. Apparently its just round dark things that qualify for a beating.

And for anyone concerned about cat vs. turtle safety...yes, that is "top of mind" for me. The cats only have access to this room when I am home and using this room. (It's a craft room, mostly.)
Craft room??? With a 12x3 tort enclosure, I think it qualifies as a TORTOISE room!!! :)
 

HoosierTort

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There are general rules of thumb for tortoises, especially most testudo and even more with Horsfields/Russians.
One of those rules is that males will battle until one is so submitted it might not eat and fall sick from stress.
This does not mean you can never have males in the same creep and I have several Russian creeps with multiple males in each. That said, each group is kept in a large well planted enclosure with tons of basking spots and many hides. Yes there will be initial battles, but once dominance is set, the other will stay to itself. If they don’t have a large enough enclosure, they will stress and die.
The same issue can happen with females to other females but they bully the good basking spots and good hides. If you don’t have a large enough enclosure they will stress and die.

So basically if you want anymore than one tortoise and you want to keep them together, you need a large enclosure that has all their needs met times a dozen.
 

zolasmum

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No, never tried a mirror. Or glass. Oddly, he does not mind my cat hanging out in his fairly large habitat. It is only 3 feet wide, but 12 feet long...with a "rock formation" with a cave. He has his own water fountain, too. (But I have never seen him use it.) The first time I saw her in there, I was sure he was going to give her a piece of his mind...but nope. Apparently its just round dark things that qualify for a beating.

And for anyone concerned about cat vs. turtle safety...yes, that is "top of mind" for me. The cats only have access to this room when I am home and using this room. (It's a craft room, mostly.)
That's a wonderful photo - the cat's expression, plus those little stretched out legs - you could make a story from it!!
 

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