Hi. I have two tortoises. One male and one female. The female always starts biting the male's nails. She wasn't doing it earlier but now everytime she goes near him, she smells his nails and tries eating it. We have stopped her many a times but one time she literally bit his nail, pulled it out and "ate" his nail! Seriously? She removed the nail like she was eating a snack and ate it. And now she is trying to do the same with other nails of his too. I'm scared . Please any one knows the reason?
Female tortoise biting and eating the male's nails.
- Thread starter Yatee
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Well, you're finding out first hand one of the reasons why it's not a good idea to maintain two tortoises in the same habitat. The only way to make it stop is provide each tortoise their own living space.
As well as separation ... ensure they have calcium this could be cuttlefish, egg shell crushed or powder. She may be craving calcium and thinks nails will provide. Good luck try to fix this ASAP.
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That was also what I was thinking. (Mineral deficiency)
And of course I agree about NOT keeping TWO together.
What species? How are you housing them? What size enclosure? What do you feed them?
I agree with everyone else that tortoises should never be housed in pairs.
Yess thankyou so much !
Hi. Yes, this could be the reason. What exactly should I give her as calcium? We are vegetarian .. so eggs and stuff don't come into our house. What else could be suitable as calcium?
Star tortoise. We keep them open to move everywhere in the house. We feed them french beans, cucumber, tomatoes (rarely), apple , lady finger. It's a 1 BHK flat.
Many-a-times I have seen the female bumping the male because he sleeps at the fixed place where female sleeps..
Your star tortoises are vegetarian too, however the vegetables YOU eat are not correct for your tortoises. They should be eating weeds, grasses and leafy greens. Their dietary requirements are not being met.
Avuwyy
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If you don’t feel comfortable buying cuttlefish bone, lump chalk is something you can use instead (My tortoise refuses to take the cuttlefish but will take the chalk), just make sure it’s the natural stuff. You can also sprinkle calcium powder over your tortoise’s food, but it’s good to give them the opportunity to choose when they need the calcium (Plus, giving them something to crunch on will keep their beak trim). Foods such as kale and collard greens are high in calcium (Just be careful with how much you are feeding them at a given time).
Best to buy calcium powder or go to a bird pet shop and get a cuttlefish that canaries have and provide for your tortoise it really really needs it for shell growth like we do for bone growth and strength. If avoided your tort will get sick and growth impacted.
Hi and welcome,
This is the caresheet you need to help you provide the best diet, temps etc for your torts
tortoiseforum.org
The best way to keep them safe is to house them in their own enclosures. There are too many hazards around the house that could kill your torts and plenty of threads here from people who have lost torts because of choking, getting crushed or injured, being stood on or kicked or attacked by other domestic animals. So 2 large predator safe enclosures set up as recommended in the caresheet would keep them much safer and be less stressful for them.
www.thetortoisetable.org.uk may also help you find some good foods. It's based on UK plants but I'm sure there's some you'll have in common.
This is the caresheet you need to help you provide the best diet, temps etc for your torts
The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise
I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...
tortoiseforum.org
www.thetortoisetable.org.uk may also help you find some good foods. It's based on UK plants but I'm sure there's some you'll have in common.
