Fighting tortoises?

[leahheseltine]

Hey, I'm very new to keeping tortoises and have recently bought 2 baby horsefield tortoises, which the (trusted) shop that I bought them from said they were about 6 months old. I have had them for nearly a month and have had no problems as such. However this morning I noticed the slightly larger of the 2 bite the other ones shell and as she(persuming) tried to get away he(persuming) followed her and bit the back of her shell too, when I saw them a few minutes later the one who was biting was in the corner by the heating bulb whereas the smaller one was halfway down the viv... I dont know if this is terretorial or just playful in some way - any help would be great x

As far as I am aware they are hatchlings, and as they are so small they are currently sharing a 4ft by 2ft viv, which i am planning to upgrade as they grow

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yes. You will need two different enclosures for your two tortoises. The bullying will get worse and worse and could lead to illness, injury, even death.
They don't play and your species doesn't like "company".

 

[Gillian M]

Keep one thing in mind please: torts in general do not like company, they'd rather be alone.

And a very warm welcome to the forum.

 

[Tom]

Tortoises should not be kept in pairs. You need to make your shop aware of this and voice your displeasure at their ignorance. At least I hope it was innocent ignorance, and not the greed of wanting to make another sale.

Read these first:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...together-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.94114/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/bad-day-for-baby.114328/

You need to separate your two into their own enclosures immediately.

 

[tortdad]

Yep, separation time

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

And please the fighting sometimes is hard to spot it can be looks , laying in the food dish , horsing the hides , or just starring at the other .

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Leah! Your two new babies are just so cute!! It would be a very good idea to set up another enclosure. When the tortoises are big enough to live outside, you can try putting them back together, but only if the outdoor habitat is LARGE and has many sight barriers.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Your babies are very cute. Hard to believe they can be bullying at such a young age. It's too bad it started already, but you and them will be better off in separate enclosures.

 

[Jodie]

Welcome to the forum. They are very cute. I agree with the above.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It doesn't really end, just with a LOT of room, they can avoid each other and later on those of us that keep more than one have at least three tortoises in our very large enclosures. It helps to spread the bullying load and keep an individual from being bothered all the time.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Leah and a very warm welcome to tortoise forum.
Your babies are very beautiful but will not be happy kept together.
They don't play, don't have friends and prefer a solitary life.
Good luck.

 

[leahheseltine]

Thankyou all so much for the replies, I'll seperate the enclosures as soon as I can as I don't want either of them to get hurt - thankyou x

 

[leigti]

Welcome to the forum. Your tortoises are adorable. I'm glad you're getting the advice now rather than waiting till one is very sick. It's too bad the pet store didn't know better. Keep us updated on your tortoises as they grow.

 

[mike taylor]

This is what makes you a good keeper . You seen first hand bulling and now you asked how to fix it . Good job ! Hopefully you can get each there own enclosures .