Guinea pig and tortoise share a home

[Crocgirl]

Hello again,

I have been asked by a friend if it's okay for her to keep her Testudo species with her 18 guinea pigs?

I know the environment required is entirely different for both, this is only when the tortoises are outside. It's bark and not grass also. They appear to get along but she just wanted to query her actions to make sure it's ok.

I wasn't sure what things may be applicable towards the 'no' factor as I'm not very knowledgeable on guinea pigs and had never thought about putting torts with them.

Any help wildly appreciated

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Hello again,

I have been asked by a friend if it's okay for her to keep her Testudo species with her 18 guinea pigs?

I know the environment required is entirely different for both, this is only when the tortoises are outside. It's bark and not grass also. They appear to get along but she just wanted to query her actions to make sure it's ok.

I wasn't sure what things may be applicable towards the 'no' factor as I'm not very knowledgeable on guinea pigs and had never thought about putting torts with them.

Any help wildly appreciated

Not the best idea. Guinea pigs poop a lot and the tortoise may ingest their feces.

Also, they eat alot faster than the tort and could out compete it for food.

 

[wellington]

No, Absolutely bad idea for both! Besides above, the tortoise could ram a guinea pig hurting or killing it, could bite them and or the pigs bite the tort. Besides totally different requirements.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I agree with all of the above. The guinea pigs can also cause chronic stress to a tortoise, which can be detrimental and hard to spot. Check out the beginner mistakes thread for example: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/common-keeping-errors.217956/

 

[Maggie3fan]

Guess they didn't get the answer they wanted but torts need their own pen...use cinder blocks and make 2 pens from the 1 pen

 

[Crocgirl]

These are brilliant answers! Appreciate the thread link too, I'll pass it on to her.

She's open to the no, I think sometimes people just like to know the whys too. Especially when they aren't experts.

Thank you for your help everyone