Is it a dominance thing?

[GemmyLou]

I bought two horsefield tortoises today from the same store.. both 3 years old.
One of them went to nip the other on the head is that a dominance thing? /:
Also would it be a good idea to get them there own food bowls each?

 

[Fernando]

If you can't separate them I would give them their own food bowl. Russians don't do well together, especially male Russians. It will get worse if you can't separate them.

Can you add things in the enclosure to sort of block their sight of plain view?

 

[wrmitchell22]

From what I understand Torts can be very territorial. So plenty of space is needed when housing more than one. I would probably have 2 bowls since they don't seem to share well

 

[ascott]

I would suggest that you keep and eye out for any out right bullying as well as watch growth between the two to make sure you catch any mental bullying that you may not see....if you should have two males you may run into the "two males" thing...trust me, they already know what sex the other is even if you can not be certain yet

 

[GBtortoises]

It sounds like you probably have 2 males and very likely more than 3 years old. Posting some photos for us would help to identify their genders for certain and hopefully give you a better idea of their ages. Seperating them would be the safe thing to do until their genders can be identified. If they're both males they probably are not going to be able to be kept together at all. Unless you can provide a very large area for them with lots of obstacles and visual barriers. If they are male a female their co-habitation will depend a lot upon the male's frequency of aggression. Some male Russians never let up, others have more seasonal aggression. Often times in captivity males and females cannot be kept together except when given very large accomodations.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Definitely feed them separately. Russians can get very aggressive at feeding time. I have an old male with an eye injury because another tortoise bit him while eating. (By the way, I keep three males together and have no issues with them getting along.)