Is it possible for a tortoise to kill another

[Tortaddictt]

We let out Greek tortoise out to roam last night.He hid and I couldn’t find him. One of my kids found him and put him in the enclosure with my two adult Russians. Why I don’t know, maybe he mistook it for one of the Russians but I found one of my Russians dead and the Greek was on top of him. Now the other ones eyes are milky and closed shut. I have him in the sun soaking in Warm water with a few drops of flukers vitamins. I’m stumped

 

[Clamhandsmcgee]

Yes it's possible for one tortoise to kill another. More commonly ways, they will flip one over. They can stress out each other from being together, and a stressed tortoise gets sick easier. They can also pass their illness/ parasites to another. They can wound another from bites/ ramming. It has been stated here that it's not advisable to keep tortoises together in pairs, and it's not good to keep any tortoises of different species together. If you do have multiple torts of the same species and subspecies make sure they have enough space.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Do you think the tortoise was flipped over all night? I THINK that, because the lungs are on the top underside of their shell, its possible to have the other organs provide too much pressure on the lungs and inhibit breathing.

Twisting organs is another issue when flipped for too long.

Other than this, I have heard of missing limbs and even decapitation when one tortoise is put with another and one is especially territorial.

Sorry to hear about your tortoise and I wish you the best.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Keeping any tortoises together are risky at best.
Pairs are almost always a recipe for disaster.
Russian tortoises are some of the scrappiest, least social of all tortoises. Especially for their small size.
So sorry that you lost a tortoise.
I'm a little surprised that the Russian lost.

 

[Rhea]

Not sure new to the tort world yet- I’m so sorry for your loss. Losing a pet is hard. Give your son a hug he probably feels so bad. Plus he didn’t know. I can only imagine. I have a 5 year old. You wouldn’t have thought in 1 night a tort could hinder or kill another. It’s so sad.

 

[Clamhandsmcgee]

My guess he had something else going on. Although it is possible one could kill another, stress would take a while to kill one unless it was already sick. Parasites/ disease would also take some time. I don't know your setup, but if you do have some together, I would quarantine them individually for a long time so that if they do have any health issues they won't infect the each other.

 

[Tom]

Some male greeks are as scrappy as any russian tortoise. It is certainly possibly that the greek tortoise killed him either directly or indirectly.

This is one of the reasons I recommend tortoises have their own enclosures indoors and out. A tortoise can't get lost and put back in the wrong enclosure if its in its own enclosure.

 

[TammyJ]

I am very sorry that this accident happened. How were the sizes different? It seems a bit extreme, but I know that it's not good for them to be put into an enclosure with "strangers" and anything might happen.