Getting my Greek tortoise a girlfriend?

[Jacob.smith]

Hi,
I currently have a spur thigh tortoise (aka Greek) and he’s apparently part of the testudo species too (he’s called Bolt) , I have been thinking about getting him a female friend following him getting a bit too friendly with some rocks in the garden... I’ve read a post warning against this carefully, however the posters tortoises lived inside and Bolt lives out side all year round with access to the whole garden .... hibernating throughout winter in my shed, do you think the fact that Bolt and the female tortoise (if bought/adopted) would be ok together as they have the whole garden and that there’s therefore perhaps more space for them to avoid each other if that’s what they wanted to do.
I would be really interested to hear what you all think.

Stay safe,
Jacob

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinion, tortoises should not be permanently housed in pairs. If one wanted to get into a breeding situation for their tortoises, I would still set them up in two separate enclosures, especially outdoor enclosures, then occasionally put the male in with the female for a few hours, then return him back to his own enclosure. Males harass females until she will stay hidden, stop eating and be totally stressed. The ideal situation would be one male to three or four females - that spreads his attention to the other females, giving any one of them a respite from his advances.

 

[Tom]

It can't be said any better than what Yvonne just typed.

The size of the yard will not matter. He will hunt her down like the Terminator.