Aggressive Redfoot

[Blessed3x]

I'm taking on a Redfoot male that the owner
is getting rid of due to aggression. Trying to bite toes, feet,
attacking a female tort and nearly killing her.
She says her kids are scared of it.
Has anyone dealt with such aggression in a redfoot?
Any advice on how to handle him? What could cause it.
She says her husband has been dealing with torts for years and
has not seen one so aggressive like this one.

 

[JoesMum]

Not in a redfoot... but Joe has history.

It's a male thing. They do it to defend territory and court females and, according to my vet, it can be made worse by the presence of other tortoises, especially females.

It's possible that a change of location may break the cycle for a while. He does need PLENTY of space to do his thing. He doesn't need anyone else in it or near it to challenge his authority.

Joe got so bad that he wouldn't eat or drink and ended up having an implant to reduce his testosterone...see here. It's made a massive difference.

 

[Nixxy]

I can't say as I have heard one quite that bad, but I have heard of aggressive males, many a time.

They need space, and lots of it. They require a lot of proper husbandry, and respect.

This can be the case in many male animals..dogs..cats..you name it. But unfortunately, you can't just go off and get a tort nurtured.

Fortunately for me, Toby is a sweet little guy. He is a lap tort.

 

[Blessed3x]

Since found out more info after asking more questions.

1) The toes it was trying to get at were bare toes painted with red nail polish.
That explained that!

2)It didn't just attack a female, it took half her head off and killed her.
She was sickly.

 

[ascott]

Both situations are not uncommon, at all. A redfoot can be aggressive as well as any other tortoise species (it is just not AS common). I have a little redfoot that had bullied its roommate before they came here....after a couple of days I had separated them forever...he is just very very forward, he will even tuck his head in, jack up his rear end and charge my hand and ram it if he so feels like it....now, since he is not going to be a large tort, it is amusing to me...great spunk, however he can not be trusted around other torts---his ex roommate lost three of her toes on each front foot somewhere in that living arrangement....so yes, they are just being a tort.