Are Star Tortoises really not territorial? Is it ok to keep them in pairs?

[Gillian M]

Hi @jptv and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Sorry, won't be able to answer your question/vote. Am no tort expert.

 

[jptv]

Interesting. Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like 80% said No. I'll give it a try and have it in close monitoring. If it won't work, I'll add another female and get a bigger enclosure. I am a fighting cokcs (Roosters) breeder for decades already/ a doberman breeder and the trio (2 female, 1 male) always works for me. Let's see how it works with star tortoises. Btw I'm a newbie for tortoise. My pet dog died of old age. I was emotionally attached to him. Then I realized that a tortoise can live for decades/ a century

 

[Neal]

I'm just curious...how are you going to determine if it's "working" or not? Tortoises are very good at hiding stress and illness. Given that you're a newbie, I would be concerned that you have no idea what to look for and it would be too late for the tortoises by the time you realize it isn't working

I'm surprised that you are putting so much trust in the minority. I'm all for going against the grain if you have a valid reason for doing so, but if you're planning on keeping two, apparently sub-adults, in a 3* 4 enclosure I cannot stress enough about how stupid of an idea that is.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but I believe you are putting two tortoises lives in danger and I've not read a valid reason for doing so from your posts.

 

[wellington]

I totally agree with Neal. So many things against even trying, at least now. Not sure why you even posted the question if you weren't going to take anyone's advice. You don't even have a proper size enclosure for one adult let alone more then one. You are setting this up to fail before you even get started. The sad thing is, the tortoises pay for your mistakes. You also mention them out living you. So why start them out to fail right off the bat? Get a better set up, whether a proper sized indoor enclosure and better yet a proper outdoor enclosure in size, sight barriers, etc before jumping in to something you really know nothing about.

 

[Team Gomberg]

If you fight roosters for a living, you are used to seeing a very outgoing form of aggression. Tortoises will not display the same aggressive behaviors as your roosters, giving you a much harder time trying to identify it.

 

[jptv]

Chill! As I mentioned "in close monitoring" I have a helper to check it most of the time when I'm away. If one of them skip their regular meal for no reason maybe that's the time I will transfer them to a bigger enclosure. The reason why I put my tort in a rabbit cage because we have dogs. Dogs see them as walking bone.

I also knew people that has pair of tortoise for more than 10 years already and no problem with it that's why I'm still open minded on it. Thanks for all your feedback.

 

[JoesMum]

Chill! As I mentioned "in close monitoring" I have a helper to check it most of the time when I'm away. If one of them skip their regular meal for no reason maybe that's the time I will transfer them to a bigger enclosure. The reason why I put my tort in a rabbit cage because we have dogs. Dogs see them as walking bone.

I also knew people that has pair of tortoise for more than 10 years already and no problem with it that's why I'm still open minded on it. Thanks for all your feedback.

The important points from this thread:

1. 3' x 4' isn't big enough for your single 5" tortoise. Fix that first.

2. If you get a second, it must be kept entirely separately in quarantine for at least six months to make sure that neither makes the other sick.

3. Some/many/a few/all the people who voted may or may not have any experience of tortoises, Indian stars and/or bullying. There's no telling. Having a vote is meaningless.

You appear to have started this thread with no intention of changing your mind. I do wonder if I'd find similar threads on other reptile forums started by you if I bothered to Google.

I may have abstained, but points one and two above are important and you should at least take note of those.

I wish your tortoise well.

 

[jptv]

Noted JoesMum. Thanks. Do you have star tortoises too?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I keep Redfoot. A species that I think most consider to be one of the more peaceful tortoise species. But even they are not immune to bullying. I have four. One male. Three females in a very large outdoors enclosure.
How I arrived at that number and with these tortoise was by no accident.
I had to add and remove tortoises that fought or were bullied, etc. until I found a group that worked. This took a long time.
A LOT of the harmful, aggressive behavior looks like not much of anything. (Following each other around. Sleeping in the same spot.) To the untrained eye, some keepers think that this is them being friends. Tortoises don't make friends. And not all of the aggression will result in a missing eye or a bitten off tail. But all aggression can lead to sick tortoises.
There is also the issue of keeping a pair together for breeding. Very often the male will try to breed with one female 24/7 and the female will get very, very weak and ill. So for breeding you need to either 1: Have several females with one male in a VERY large enclosure with hiding spots and sight barriers. Or 2: Remove the female, or male into its own enclosure shortly after mating.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Also, Yes.
DO quarantine any new tortoise.

 

[Star-of-India]

Stars can definitely have dominance issues. I have one large adult female who is dominant to the 4 males she is in a pen with. She doesn't take any grief and when she is hungry, watch out if you're in the way. She just walks over the smaller males.

I have a subadult female housed separately who had been housed peacefully with some of the males when they were subadult too. However, she was then abused constantly by the males when they matured sexually. For a while I was able to keep her with my large adult female and they behaved very peacefully with each other. However, she was then attacked unrelentingly by the dominant female when the dominant female became ready to lay eggs this past spring.

 

[Jodie]

My standard answer to multiples is it might work. If it doesn't though, you have to separate them. If you can't maintain multiple enclosures, do not get multiple tortoises. If you think it is working, but one gets sick or isn't growing, it isn't working for them.

 

[Fredkas]

find the solution for you if you don't want only one star. keep at least 3 stars, and at least triple the enclosure size. this is way better rather than keep 2 together.
Yes for 1
No for 2
Abstain for 3
Yes for 4 or more, with big enclosure.
I am newbie who read a lot.

 

[jptv]

So far so good! It went well. I've considered some of your advices. On the first day, the old indian star (female) was so aggressive... just like a territorial dog barking to another dog. Then after a few days they've adapted and adjusted to each other. Will work on a bigger enclosure in the future.

 

[Team Gomberg]

Your tortoises look so small, how did you accurately identify their gender?

Have you ever considered putting plants in that enclosure? Real or fake if you have to..but making it look more like a "jungle" will help in many ways. Sight barriers for one, microclimates another.

You seem to be set in your ways, but that isn't at all how I'd house such a beautiful, exotic species.

 

[jptv]

The male is 3+ inches with a long tail and concave belly. The female is almost 5 inches, flat belly, short rounded tail. I have plants before but when I used soil; there are always insects. I will consider the fake plants. I have a separate enclosure also if needed. I will check their weight every 2 weeks.

 

[jptv]

Enjoying their hibiscus and corchorus dinner! Happy pair!

 

[Rlt0929]

Personally I don't keep my stars in pairs. From my observations even star hatchlings that are kept in pairs, there is always one who is the more dominate one and that will affect the other one. Slower growth and hiding more is common.

However if kept in 3 or more I don't usually notice it as much. This also will vary if you have 2 mature males vs a pair. In general star species aren't as aggressive as most of the other species. However there are exceptions. I know of a few males that can only be kept with the female for breeding purposes then they must be removed because they are aggressive breeders.

I would say it depends on the size and the tortoises themselves

 

[Tom]

I would say it depends on the size and the tortoises themselves

No it doesn't. Pairs are a problem at any size or age. One will be dominant and the other not. Both want the other one gone.

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[Rlt0929]

No it doesn't. Pairs are a problem at any size or age. One will be dominant and the other not. Both want the other one gone.

Welcome to the forum. This thread is nearly 7 years old. Please give this a read:

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No it doesn't. Pairs are a problem at any size or age. One will be dominant and the other not. Both want the other one gone.

Welcome to the forum. This thread is nearly 7 years old. Please give this a read:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

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I would say it depends on their size and the tortoises themselves some do get along in pairs