introducing new tortoises into group

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rippers

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can anyone please give us some advice about the incubation needed when introducing new tortoises. We have a large tort table which could easily be divided and they would have no physical contact. Is this enough or does there need to be a basic distance between the established tortoise and the new arrival. We are aware of basic hygiene ie hand washing and seperate outdoor runs.
How long do you usually keep the seperation going for?
Are we best getting a single new tortoise or a small group of three.
We don't want our tiny Herman to be on her own, please give us your advice. Thanks.
 

Josh

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i think you are asking about quarantining a new animal before introducing him to the ones you already have...right?
i'm not too sure on how long is long enough, but you definitely want to keep them apart for a little while til you can ensure that the new animal is 100% healthy. youll probably also want to slowly introduced them to each other to ensure that they dont fight for whatever reason.
others who are more experienced will be able to give you symptoms to look for and how long you should quarantine.
 

Josh

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p.s. welcome to TFO, rippers. glad to have ya
 

Jentortmom

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I would give at least 30 days. I house all new torts in seperate rubbermaid totes until they have past the quaratine period. If you get groups you could house them together since they have been together previously, but with all torts I would soak seperatly for a while if not always to check for parasites, you might also want to get them vet check to ensure they do not have problems.
 

Rees2

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Welcome.You should try to find out if the one you have now is a male or female.You should NOT house two males together.Female and female would be fine.Or you could house a male and female together but this maay result in eggs.You should not house two males together as they will flip each other.
 

rippers

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Thankyou for your advice,

Josh - yes we are introducing new tortoises to a single female we currently have. The new tortoises will consist of unrelated 2 females and a male.

Jenrell23 - Thanks for your advice, but what is rubbermaid totes? we are new to this and havn't heard if this yet!!

Rees2 - Thanks for the comment. Thankfully we will only have one male to 3 females so no flipping is hopefully going to occur!!!!

Can anybody shed any light on the distance they need to be kept during the incubation period from each other? as in the tables they live on...is it ok for them to be a matter of cm's away (wood thickness) so long as they have separate water, baths, handlings etc, or does there have to be a larger distance of say a metre, or is it totally irrelavent?

thanks again for your advice/help in advance!! :D
 

transtort

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rippers said:
Thankyou for your advice,

Josh - yes we are introducing new tortoises to a single female we currently have. The new tortoises will consist of unrelated 2 females and a male.

Jenrell23 - Thanks for your advice, but what is rubbermaid totes? we are new to this and havn't heard if this yet!!

Rees2 - Thanks for the comment. Thankfully we will only have one male to 3 females so no flipping is hopefully going to occur!!!!

Can anybody shed any light on the distance they need to be kept during the incubation period from each other? as in the tables they live on...is it ok for them to be a matter of cm's away (wood thickness) so long as they have separate water, baths, handlings etc, or does there have to be a larger distance of say a metre, or is it totally irrelavent?

thanks again for your advice/help in advance!! :D

Hi,

The Tortoise Trust recommend that you quarantine a new tort for a minimum of 6 months.It can take quite a time for illness to show up in torts.Also,if you have had your one tort for quite a while,please be aware of any stress that could possibly occur.Tortoises are naturally solitary animals in the wild and rarely come across other torts so your female would be ok on her own.My recent re-homers are having a quarantine period of 12 months.They will not be introduced to my other torts until next spring.

Take care,
Julie
 

Tamie

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As Julie has said the TT recommends a min quarantine period of 6 months. The length of quarantine really has to depend on where the tortoises came from - min of six months but longer if you are not 100% certain of the history of the second tort.

HTH

Tamie
 

T-P

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Minimum of quarantine is 90 days (3 months), but anything over is better.
 

Josh

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rippers, looks like the answer is the longer the better so that you can be more sure of the health of the new tortoise(s). also, the point is to avoid disease from spreading so the greater the distance between them, the better.
 

transtort

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josh said:
rippers, looks like the answer is the longer the better so that you can be more sure of the health of the new tortoise(s). also, the point is to avoid disease from spreading so the greater the distance between them, the better.

Hi Josh,
Its not the distance thats a problem as the pathogens are not air bourne,its the contact from hands to torts,and as long as the torts dont burrow into each others enclosures.As long as strict hygiene is carried out.the enclosures can be next to each other.I have four different species of torts,in different garden areas,i change footwear before stepping into the different garden areas aswell as hand washing before i make any contact with a different species.

Take care,
Julie
 

T-P

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Ive read on it before and before.
But ive often been told if it has to be shorter than 6 monts then 3 months is optional.
So i did 3 months.
 

rippers

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Thank you all for your advice. We have made another table to go in a room away from our present tort. We plan on keeping them seperate until the Spring when they will be introduced to their new outside home. All we have to do now is find a suitable group to adopt as the planned adoption appears to have fallen through!
Thanks for all the support

Ripppers
 

T-P

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You could of just put a sheet of wood in the middle of your already-made enclosure..for quarentining the new additions.
 

Jacqui

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The sheet in the middle would work, if the ones you already have are not carrying parasites or diseases which aren't perhaps showing up in them, but may pass to the new animals and cause them problems. Using an existing pen that's only been sectioned off, not decontaminated, is just like walking from one pen to the other.

Me personally, with some of the new diseases which seem to be taking a long time to show up in groups won't mix in any new animal until it's quarantine for a full year. This year in the hingebacks we have had several long term groups suddenly start dieing off. No reason for it, nothing seems to recover from it and we are talking isolated groups for years. It's getting to be a scarey world out there. I would rather take the added time caution then lose any of my animals.
 

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transtort said:
josh said:
rippers, looks like the answer is the longer the better so that you can be more sure of the health of the new tortoise(s). also, the point is to avoid disease from spreading so the greater the distance between them, the better.

Hi Josh,
Its not the distance thats a problem as the pathogens are not air bourne,its the contact from hands to torts,and as long as the torts dont burrow into each others enclosures.As long as strict hygiene is carried out.the enclosures can be next to each other.I have four different species of torts,in different garden areas,i change footwear before stepping into the different garden areas aswell as hand washing before i make any contact with a different species.

Take care,
Julie

What about things that happen naturally like bugs going from one pen to another. Like the common house fly or maybe a fruit gnat.

Or maybe a heavy rain and run off going into the next pen?

I myself like to put a little distance between pens when possible. I think anything we can do to keep each segment isolated from the rest, is worth it.

I understand when space is short having to share walls. I just think we need to think carefully about the idea of just adding a divider and calling it good. Still it's better then just sticking a new animal in with your old ones.

Glad to see Julie that I am not the only one who does the hand washing/shoe changes.

Yeah guys I know, I am slightly paranoid. Okay so maybe a lot.:D
 

T-P

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Well ...with a divider, you would clean out the cage, disinfect it, then add your divider.
And it should be ok.

I know someone who has a HUGE long table top enclosure, with 3 dividers keeping..
1 hermanns, 3 leopards and 2 ibera tortoises seperate.
 

transtort

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Jacqui said:
transtort said:
josh said:
rippers, looks like the answer is the longer the better so that you can be more sure of the health of the new tortoise(s). also, the point is to avoid disease from spreading so the greater the distance between them, the better.

Hi Josh,
Its not the distance thats a problem as the pathogens are not air bourne,its the contact from hands to torts,and as long as the torts dont burrow into each others enclosures.As long as strict hygiene is carried out.the enclosures can be next to each other.I have four different species of torts,in different garden areas,i change footwear before stepping into the different garden areas aswell as hand washing before i make any contact with a different species.

Take care,
Julie

What about things that happen naturally like bugs going from one pen to another. Like the common house fly or maybe a fruit gnat.

Or maybe a heavy rain and run off going into the next pen?

I myself like to put a little distance between pens when possible. I think anything we can do to keep each segment isolated from the rest, is worth it.

I understand when space is short having to share walls. I just think we need to think carefully about the idea of just adding a divider and calling it good. Still it's better then just sticking a new animal in with your old ones.

Glad to see Julie that I am not the only one who does the hand washing/shoe changes.

Yeah guys I know, I am slightly paranoid. Okay so maybe a lot.:D
Never mind Jaqcui,we can both be paranoid together ;)

Julie
 
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