Can Russian Tortoises live together?

[Mary Carrol]

Hello! New to the forum here. My question may be answered elsewhere on a forum, but I couldn't locate any information. I apologize if this has been discussed before.

We have an approximately 3 year old female Russian, Nadine. I am wondering if she and another female RT would live together peaceably, or if that would just cause undue stress for Nadine. The only information I can find about RT's sharing space involves males. I know RT's live solitary in the wild, but I suppose I like the idea of everyone having a friend. LOL.

Nadine has an outdoor enclosure that is 6 foot by 18 feet, with all kinds of rocks, hills, a tunnel and a pool, a log cabin, and planted edibles. When I'm at work or the weather is questionable, she is inside in a 50-gallon Rubbermaid tote.

Anyway, input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Mary, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.to you and Nadine.
Tortoises are solitary animals and don't need friends.
Some Russians can be particularly aggressive.
Two together is usually a bad idea.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/bad-day-for-baby.114328/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/why-to-never-keep-two-russians-together.115645/

 

[dmmj]

that sounds like a pretty nice enclosure I'm sure your tortoise is very happy living alone. they don't want or need friendships or companionship or anything like that they're happy being the only one around. Adding another one has no benefit and only negatives

 

[Tom]

One more vote for not adding another one. Tortoises seldom do well in pairs regardless of the sexes. Groups can sometimes work, but Russians are so aggressive that even groups sometimes don't work.

Welcome to the forum and I hope this helps.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Mary, and welcome to the Forum!

Nadine has her territory. She's been queen of the territory for a long time. If you add another female to the territory, Nadine might see that as a hostile invader and try to evict the newcomer. This means fighting and it can sometimes get pretty bloody.

Now, if you had a neutral space - a whole other habitat that Nadine has never been in, you might be able to introduce them in that neutral space, but I THINK if you ever try to put them back into Nadine's space, the fighting would ensue.

 

[jockma]

Another vote for keeping them separate.

Pairs are generally a bad idea but I believe Russian torts have a reputation for being even less amicable. I'm not sure if a group of 3 or more would work better for RTs like they do for RFs.

 

[dmmj]

over the years I've had to separate several aggressive females they just could not live with others.

 

[Tortoise_Wrangler]

Welcome to the Forums. I am a breeder of Russian Tortoises and have an enclosure that I keep 1 male and 5 females in the exact same size as yours . I had a lot of trouble at first trying to keep my herd from fighting but eventually figured out how to keep it to a minimum. However, if you're not looking to get into the hobby of breeding them, then I too would vote for just having one tortoise. That, or cut your current enclosure in half and have two separate enclosures.

Now if you do decide to breed or keep multiple tortoises, there are a few things you can do to prevent fights. In my opinion, I believe having sight blockers throughout the enclosure is the most important thing. It gives them the ability to be alone and if you place hides throughout the enclosure too, this will really help with allowing them solitude. My tortoises can't walk in a straight line due to my sight blockers, they have to navigate through a lot of different isolated spots. I've designed it in a way that kind of makes it look like I built multiple smaller enclosures.

When it comes to hides, I place them all over, as many as I can. Honestly, you can never have a enough when keeping multiple tortoises. Would you rather live with roommates that bite you or live alone? Hides can be made out of almost anything, my work generates a lot of scrap wood, so I've utilized that and my tortoises love it.

Another trick I learned was to not feed them in one location. I used to love just plopping some food in a pile and watching them eat, but they fought too much. So I thought about it and started dropping it all over the enclosure. These are grazing animals and eating from a nicely organized pile is unnatural, so allowing them to walk around and find their own food not only helps them with their natural behavior, but it spreads them out from each other. I would advise putting out food for grazing even with one tortoise, trust me, they will find the food.

Whatever it is you decide to do the tortoiseforum can always help you when you have questions. Hope this helped.

 

[Gillian M]

Hello! New to the forum here. My question may be answered elsewhere on a forum, but I couldn't locate any information. I apologize if this has been discussed before.

We have an approximately 3 year old female Russian, Nadine. I am wondering if she and another female RT would live together peaceably, or if that would just cause undue stress for Nadine. The only information I can find about RT's sharing space involves males. I know RT's live solitary in the wild, but I suppose I like the idea of everyone having a friend. LOL.

Nadine has an outdoor enclosure that is 6 foot by 18 feet, with all kinds of rocks, hills, a tunnel and a pool, a log cabin, and planted edibles. When I'm at work or the weather is questionable, she is inside in a 50-gallon Rubbermaid tote.

Anyway, input would be greatly appreciated!

A very warm welcome to the forum!

As has been said, torts are to be separated so to avoid bullying and stress.

Would love to see pics of your torts.

 

[KaitlinKeefe_]

From my experience two russians means two of everything.

my older male is a bully, kindest gentlest creature i have ever encountered until you put another tort near him..

i love both of my russians but they are not housed together.