Bought 2 Tortoises, One of them is Eating other one isn't as much?

[James92]

Hello All, Just joined the forum.

Needed some advice, I bought 2 tortoises (Spur Thighed) about, id say nearly 2 months ago now. I didn't buy them both together i bought 1 first then the second a week later from the same breeder. I bought a complete Setup from him Table (Think it's more of a Indoor Plastic rabit cage) Ill upload pictures of my setup in a min.

The first tortoise i got seems to be fine she is eating a lot,very active first up last, one to bed...lol.
The second one i got however seems to be sleeping most the time, She is eating but not a lot and at the moment im having to get her up and put her near the food today i did giver her food from my hand which she ate again not eating alot of food, then she starts eating. She is also a bit smaller than the first one.

Here is some more detail about what im feeding, Enclusure, Temps.

1. The bulb im using is a arcadia 100w Bulb, Temperatures are 32.This is what the breeder reccomended on the Instructions he gave me.
2. Im mostly feeding them weeds from the garden at the moment im giving them Winter pansies leafs, clovers, Gave them some lettuce today, Also strawberry leafs
3. Enclosure is is 3ft long by 2ft, Im Using Top Soil. Also i have cuttlefish bone in the enclosure and bits of slate under the bulb for a basking area. All this came from the breeder on his advice.

I will take some pictures of the tortoises now and the enclosure. But wondering if i could get some advice.

Thanks

 

[James92]

The one sleeping on the Slate is the First tortoise, The other is the 2nd one

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi James, and welcome to the Forum!

It would really help a lot if you were to toss a plastic sheet over that enclosure, and close in the warm air. Being open like that, you really can't keep it as warm and moist as it needs to be. When you measure the temperature, you're only measuring a hot spot, but the ambient air is a lot cooler, like the air in the room.

Soak your babies daily in warm water, and moisten the substrate a bit. But with the moist substrate, you MUST cover the habitat because allowing them to be cool and moist is a death sentence.

 

[dmmj]

P airs don't work as you are seeing now. there's always a dominant 1 and a submissive 1. the submissive one stop eating and hides a lot please separate as soon as possible

 

[AnimalLady]

I agree with above, if you have them together the one thats not eating well is most likely the one that is stressed out. sometimes its hard to see the bullying, but its there. pairs are really never recommended. the size of the enclosure is okay for now, but those torts will get huge! so be prepared

 

[James92]

Thank you for you advice, I will get a cover for the Tortoises to keep the heat in, I have also slightly lowered the Lamp since iv done that the 2nd tortoise seems to of spent the day up instead of sleeping and has eating a lot more than she has been. I will also moisten the substrate i didn't know i had to do that, The breeder never mentioned that.

I was originally going to just get 1 tortoise but during the meeting with the breeder and it also mentions this on his sheet he gave me he reccomended 2 especially if they are from the same batch (one was born on the 17th aprill and the other 4th aprill) which these 2 are. they do sleep together so i didn't assume one is being bullied.

Forgot to ask you mentioned AnimalLady that thet get big, how big exactly ? I read online about 12 inches Each ? My plan during the summer is to build a big outdoor enclosure in the garden for them anyway.

 

[Kori5]

They are beautiful .I'm in love.

 

[leigti]

The breeder was wrong. He just wanted to sell another tortoise. I don't think a reputable breeder would ever say to get A pair of tortoises. I strongly recommend you separate them before one of them gets sick and dies. This is not an exaggeration. If you can't handle two of them then find a good home for one.

 

[Dosu]

Cuuute tortoises!
Anyways, I've read many posts with similar problems and it's mostly becuase they're in a pair. They are not actually 'sleeping' together or anything like that lol, it's actually one tortoise trying to harrass the other, sticking close to him to tell the other that it's his area etc. I'd suggest separating the tortoises before one attacks the other or until one gets sick due to stress.

 

[Yvonne G]

It's easy to misinterpret what you're seeing in your tortoise habitat. Most times, two tortoises "snuggling" in the same sleeping spot is really a more dominant tortoise telling a more submissive tortoise that this spot belongs to him.

 

[martaemha]

You can make a very simple substrate moistener with a glass jar for now - just make a few tiny holes in the lid. Works better than little garden sprayers as these only leave some moisture on top and it evaporates very quickly.
I think that by saying huge, AnimalLady had African spur thighed torts on her mind - Geochelone sulcata. Yours seem to be greek spur thighed torts - Testudo graeca and these should not grow that big. This way or another, in a while you will need a bigger enclosure for them, preferably two separate ones. Outdoor summer house sounds perfect but you will probably have to build two because as you see torts don't get well together.

It's difficult to tell the future size of your torts exactly as this my vary depending on the subspecies. Usually Testudo graeca ibera are the biggest ones (up to 11 inches).

 

[Anyfoot]

I haven't got a clue about this species. Just making sure James knows all the options available to him.

Would he be OK with 3(or more) of these tortoises together?

And warm welcome to the forum.

Cute torts BTW James. (Walks away chanting, more,more,more) lol

 

[Tom]

Would he be OK with 3(or more) of these tortoises together?

Generally a trio, or more, lessens the risk of these problem, but not always.

1. Single is best.
2. Groups of 3 or more usually work okay when they are babies, and until they start getting closer to maturity. At that points the sexes will sometimes have to be sorted out.
3. Pairs are worse case scenario.


James, You've gotten all good advice above. I just wanted to offer one more voice in agreement with the above posters.
Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

[James92]

Thank you for the warm welcome and all the advice. Very Helpful, It's nice to get differnet opnions. Nice to hear everyone likes them, i gotta say they are very interesting and enoyable to watch. I seem to be very attached to them they eat outta my hand...lol.That's good about the size too the breeder listed them as greek spur thighed torts, Had me worried thought they was gonna get a lot bigger than what i was told, Thought im gonna need bigger garden.

I haven't really got the room to seperate them, I was told by the breeder they are both females and they 2 females get along better in pairs, not sure if that is correct ? It would be a shame to rehome one of them as i said im very attached to them both. Also a friend of mine my guitar teacher has 2 tortoises both female think they are Horsefields and they seem to get along ok he has had them for about 50 years.

 

[martaemha]

Well some torts do get well together these are however rare cases. Having two females does not necessarily mean they will get on well as they tend to be very territorial.
You've already noticed yourself that something is not working between your torts because one is not eating. I don't think your torts are big enough to tell the sex, I guess you will have to wait a couple of years, so...I guess the breeder was wrong on that one too.
If you don't want to rehome them and don't have enough space, maybe a 2-storey enclosure would be an option for you?

Maybe something like that would work for you. This way you could keep them both.