Introducing a new infant cherryhead to a juvenile

[Cherryhead Noob]

Hello all,

Need some advice here. We bought a 2 year old cherry-head tort back in september. It had a bit of rough start but recently has become a very good eater and active. We just loved her and decided to expand and bought another one just yesterday who is only 2 months old. So it would appear that the older one is freaked out with this new addition. It walks up to the new one and starts moving its head side to side and up and down very quickly and backs away when the little one approaches it. Just now the older one got brave and tried to bite the little one. The little one carries on ambivalent to the presence of the older one.

We have a fairly large enclosure. It is a 2' x 3' glass terarrium.

Is the older one freaking out? Will it get used to the idea to the younger one?

Thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Cherryhead Noob:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

Its always a good idea to have a quarantine period before putting two tortoises together. That's for future reference!

What is the size difference? Can the little one be hurt accidentally by the bigger one?

Do you have another tub/aquarium/vivarium that you can set them up in. Sometimes if you introduce two tortoises to each other in new or different habitat, they don't feel the need to protect their territory and chase the new one away.

Your tortoise probably has never seen another tortoise and doesn't know what to make out of this new thing in his territory. Just watch them to be sure they don't hurt each other.

 

[Cherryhead Noob]

Hi Yvonne,

Thanks for the info. The older one is 4.5" in carapace length weighing at 350 g, and the younger one is just over 2" weighing in at 50g. I guess all we can do right now is watch them like hawks.

Tom

 

[pdrobber]

welcome!

 

[dmarcus]

Welcome to the forum..

 

[Kristina]

Welcome to the forum.

I would definitely set up another enclosure for the little one. The older one isn't "freaking," it is showing dominate behavior. What will happen is that this will cause stress to the younger tortoise, and a new baby stressed out like that is recipe for disaster. Stress can cause them to stop eating, parasite blooms, and myriad other things. A baby that stops eating is, to be blunt, a dead baby.

For the sake of the baby, it is very important to set up a second enclosure. An under-the-bed type storage box works just fine. Be creative and see what you can come up with.

 

[Madkins007]

How large is the habitat? This may be a sign of the bigger one feeling crowded.

Some things that may help if you are unwilling to do a different habitat may include..
- adding plants and things so they can get out of each other's line of sight
- add a second hide and food station
- try to create an area that only the little one can enter

If they have enough room, etc., they will probably get over this, but it would be safer to separate them until the little guy is a bit older.

 

[terryo]

My oldest Cherry Head is a little over 4 years and the youngest is about 9 months. I put them together just to take a picture, and the big one backed up and stood very high on her four legs. Really scared me, so they won't be together for a few years now until the little one catches in size. If you could put a glass partition in the enclosure with a smaller side for the baby, they might at least be able to see each other and get used to another presence, then eventually you could take out the partition. I've done this with box turtles. In the meantime, I would seperate them, because all it takes is one second for that baby to loose a leg. Love to see some pictures.

 

[Cherryhead Noob]

Thanks for the tips. We have seggregated our torts within the enclosure (See pic). We figured we will let them have supervised visits with with each other until they get adjusted to one another. Cheers!

Tom

P.S. The big one on the right is Buttercup and the little guy is Hermes.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!