Got another RF, need advice.

[Zik]

I just acquired another Red-foot which is around 8" SCL. It is in a separate container at the moment and I have not released it with Mayo(my 4" SCL Red-foot) yet.
Do you think it would be okay if I join them together in one enclosure? My outdoor enclosure is about 4x1.5x1.5 and I have a huge cave which serves as a tort hide.
Any suggestions, tips and advice would be highly appreciated. I want to be really safe because Mayo never had a companion in the same enclosure before.

Thanks in advance guys.​

 

[Ariele]

Hi Zik:

I think your enclosure is suitable for 2, but I would personally go larger as they get older! They really like to wonder EVERYWHERE. I got one last Friday, and 2 last night. I immediately introduced them to eachother and everything went well. Just monitor their activity for the first 2 hours, and than go back and check on them every hour or so if you can. I checked on mine this am, and so far, so good.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

I recently added a 4-incher in with my 2-incher and have yet to observe any issues. However, my enclosure is 2x the size of yours.

4x1.5 just seems a little small, even for the 8-inch one by itself. You may want to consider getting more spacious housing before putting them together.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I just acquired another Red-foot which is around 8" SCL. It is in a separate container at the moment and I have not released it with Mayo(my 4" SCL Red-foot) yet.
Do you think it would be okay if I join them together in one enclosure? My outdoor enclosure is about 4x1.5x1.5 and I have a huge cave which serves as a tort hide.
Any suggestions, tips and advice would be highly appreciated. I want to be really safe because Mayo never had a companion in the same enclosure before.

Thanks in advance guys.​

I'd wait until they're closer in size before putting them together, as right now the larger one will lilely bully the smaller one...which'll give you time to build a bigger enclosure. 4 x 1.5 x 1.5 is big enough for a tortoise under a few inches, but barely enough floorspace for one the size of your smallest. Much too small long term for your larger tort.

Build your enclosures to fit a large adult ('cause, hopefully, they'll both be such, and sooner than you think!)...for a solitary redfoot, I'd guess minimally, 8' X 5' X 2', but larger is always better.

For more than one tortoise, minimally, add half again as much floor space per extra tortoise, but, again, more space is even better. So, for two, think 12' X 7-1/2" X 2', for 3 maybe 12' X 12' X 2'.

BTW, landscaping timbers, from your favorite hardware or gardening store, usually come in 8' lengths and are very easy to work with.

Also, gender is an important consideration:

2 males = a bloody battle to the death, looking for a time to happen,

2 females = as long as they're not crowded and competing for food, fairly peaceful.

1 male/1 female = a very bad idea, as male tortoises aren't gentlemen (quite the opposite!) and will "romance" a single female, literally, to death...otoh, 1M/2-3F is a safe ratio, and if in a large enough enclosure, a male can "romance" quite a few females, w/ each getting only a portion of his "reproductive glee".

Hope this helps!

 

[Zik]

Thanks for all the helpful tips and advice guys. I will make and provide my torts a bigger enclosure. The small one's (4") gender is unknown yet, the larger one (8") is a female. I'll will only put them together whenever I am awake and watching them so I can avoid any issues that are possible to happen.

Thank you very much for the help guys, much appreciated.​

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Thanks for all the helpful tips and advice guys. I will make and provide my torts a bigger enclosure. The small one's (4") gender is unknown yet, the larger one (8") is a female. I'll will only put them together whenever I am awake and watching them so I can avoid any issues that are possible to happen.

Thank you very much for the help guys, much appreciated.​

Happy to help...check out the Enclosures Forum...tons of great ideas to consider!

 

[Zik]

Happy to help...check out the Enclosures Forum...tons of great ideas to consider!

I shall do that. Thanks again, Terry.

 

[Madkins007]

There is a European standard for tortoise INDOOR housing space that I think is a decent guideline-

1 tortoise- 8 shell lengths by 4 shell lengths
2-3 torts- double that
4-5 torts- add 20% more space
5+ torts- add 10% more each

So, for your situation, it should be about 64"x32" for the big guy, and add at least another 25% for the 4"er- call it 64"x48". Red-footeds do OK in moderately crowded conditions, but nonetheless, do better in plenty of space.

HOWEVER- for OUTDOOR space, I would try to double even the generous European standards as much as I could. Outdoor tortoises should get plenty of opportunity to roam explore, exercise, etc.

 

[Zik]

There is a European standard for tortoise INDOOR housing space that I think is a decent guideline-

1 tortoise- 8 shell lengths by 4 shell lengths
2-3 torts- double that
4-5 torts- add 20% more space
5+ torts- add 10% more each

So, for your situation, it should be about 64"x32" for the big guy, and add at least another 25% for the 4"er- call it 64"x48". Red-footeds do OK in moderately crowded conditions, but nonetheless, do better in plenty of space.

HOWEVER- for OUTDOOR space, I would try to double even the generous European standards as much as I could. Outdoor tortoises should get plenty of opportunity to roam explore, exercise, etc.

Oh okay, thanks for sharing this, Madkins. Our outdoor patio where their outdoor enclosure is pretty big, I think I should just take off the fence and let them wander around the whole patio. The only problem why I didn't let them wander around the whole patio in the first place, is because our neighbor's tree is dropping java plums inside our patio because their tree is growing so huge. And I'm just concerned that my torts would eat the dropped fruits.

So I have another question that might narrow down the situation, are java plums safe to eat for my Red-foots?​

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

There is a European standard for tortoise INDOOR housing space that I think is a decent guideline-

1 tortoise- 8 shell lengths by 4 shell lengths
2-3 torts- double that
4-5 torts- add 20% more space
5+ torts- add 10% more each

So, for your situation, it should be about 64"x32" for the big guy, and add at least another 25% for the 4"er- call it 64"x48". Red-footeds do OK in moderately crowded conditions, but nonetheless, do better in plenty of space.

HOWEVER- for OUTDOOR space, I would try to double even the generous European standards as much as I could. Outdoor tortoises should get plenty of opportunity to roam explore, exercise, etc.

Oh okay, thanks for sharing this, Madkins. Our outdoor patio where their outdoor enclosure is pretty big, I think I should just take off the fence and let them wander around the whole patio. The only problem why I didn't let them wander around the whole patio in the first place, is because our neighbor's tree is dropping java plums inside our patio because their tree is growing so huge. And I'm just concerned that my torts would eat the dropped fruits.

So I have another question that might narrow down the situation, are java plums safe to eat for my Red-foots?​

That's kinda lucky, as redfoot tortoises do eat some fallen fruit in the wild...I wouldn't allow that to be a large part of the diet, but some won't hurt.

If it were me, I'd go out daily and remove most of the fruit, just leaving a small amount for your torts, after 1st verifying that your neighbor doesn't spray any pesticides on the tree, of course.

 

[Zik]

That's kinda lucky, as redfoot tortoises do eat some fallen fruit in the wild...I wouldn't allow that to be a large part of the diet, but some won't hurt.

If it were me, I'd go out daily and remove most of the fruit, just leaving a small amount for your torts, after 1st verifying that your neighbor doesn't spray any pesticides on the tree, of course.

Yeah, I usually go out daily and remove all the java plums that I see scattered on the floor. I shall ask our neighbor if they are using any pesticides, that's a very good idea that you suggested. Thank you, Terry.