Keeping males with males?

[Mow'scaretaker]

Hello! I need a bit of help. There is a show coming up here in VA (well not that close. Aug 29th I believe) and I was wondering if you can keep a male with a male? My 3 y-old RF seems kind of lonely and I want a companion for him. Could I get another male without having them fight (once they sexually mature?)? I don't want baby torts all around and I wouldn't want to sell the female.

Thanks!
Trina

 

[cdmay]

Usually, adult male redfoots of the northern variety get along fine.
I have kept anywhere from 2 to 4 male Colombian RFs together for many years without a single incident of aggression.
However, I have experienced some pretty severe fighting among four different male cherryheads that I have tried to put together from time to time. Others that I know who keep this type of RF have told me that they too get significant biting/ramming between their males although not all of the time.

 

[tortguy521]

they probably will be fine if there is no female because they mainly only fight for a female.

 

[Madkins007]

My Northern males get along fine, but I have read a lot of first-person accounts, Like CDMay's, about the Cherry-heads (Eastern Brazilian morphs), and suggestions that it applies to other Southern Red-foots as well.

Most common pet Red-foots are the Northerns, so that should be OK. Otherwise, the biggest element is sheer space. Red-foots are pretty tolerant of our mistakes, but if you are going to do multiple animals, make sure you have plenty of space.

The European standard makes a lot of sense to me- 8 times the shell length by 4 times the shell length for the first tortoise, double for #2, add another 10% for 3 and 4, and 20% for 5 and 6. Round it off to 8tl (tortoise lengths) x 4tl for 1, 8tl x 8tl for 2, and add another tl both directions to hold up to 6 tortoises.

For adult Red-foots, this works out to about:
1- 8'x4'
2- 8'x8'
3 to 6- 9'x9'

 

[Mow'scaretaker]

Awesome! Thank you everybody. Gosh y'all are so helpfull!