My DIY enclosure

[mikeldurden]

I’m relatively new to the forum, but I’ve read a lot and taken some of the really great ideas and tried to make them work for me.
The enclosure is 2’x4’. Reptisun ho t5 36” fixture mounted 10” above the substrate for uvb and uva. 45 watt flood lamp for basking. 100 watt Che for night time heat,(it gets too hot so I have a reptisun digital thermostat coming today, and a 60 watt Che). The substrate is cypress mulch mixed with sphagnum peat moss wet about twice a day. Let me know what y’all think

 

[Ray--Opo]

Looks good.Welcome! But there is a big problem. Not only are torts solitary reptiles and shouldn't be kept together. It also looks like you have mixed species. That also is not good.
Not sure how the sulcata's will interact with the different species. But 2 sulcata's together one will dominate the other. It can be subtle at first like right next to each other snuggling.
That is actually one imposing itself on the other. Then eating and sitting on the food so the other cant eat. One will suffer and will get sick and then maybe the worst. Different species carry different paristites and could be a death notice for the others .
All in all you have some beautiful torts. If someone sold you all 4 and said you could keep them together. Shame on them.
Sorry for the bad news.

 

[TammyJ]

Wow, what a nice enclosure! Good job.
Hope you have more space and the energy and will to build the other enclosures so they can be separated!

 

[mikeldurden]

What species can be kept together without stressing the animals??

 

[Ray--Opo]

What species can be kept together without stressing the animals??

Maybe we can ask @Yvonne G or @Tom about that. I know many members that have multiple torts of the same species living together.

 

[Tom]

What species can be kept together without stressing the animals??

None. Species should never be mixed. And stressing them out is a minor concern. The bigger concerns are disease risk, incompatible behavior, differing care conditions, and differing dietary requirements.

Read this:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/mixing-species.139808/

 

[Ray--Opo]

None. Species should never be mixed. And stressing them out is a minor concern. The bigger concerns are disease risk, incompatible behavior, differing care conditions, and differing dietary requirements.

Read this:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/mixing-species.139808/

Hi Tom, I think the member wanted to know what same species can be together.
Thanks for responding.

 

[Tom]

Hi Tom, I think the member wanted to know what same species can be together.
Thanks for responding.

Hmmm... I must have misunderstood the question.

@mikeldurden Can we get some clarification? Are you asking what tortoise species can live in groups of the same species, or are you asking if you can put two different species together?

 

[mikeldurden]

Groups of the same species. I see a lot of videos on YouTube where mature sulcatas, leopards, redfoots, etc... are kept in outdoors pens in groups. I understand not keeping different species together, but it seems that keeping the same species together depends a lot on the personalities on the individual tortoises.
Thanks for all the feedback

 

[Tom]

Groups of the same species. I see a lot of videos on YouTube where mature sulcatas, leopards, redfoots, etc... are kept in outdoors pens in groups. I understand not keeping different species together, but it seems that keeping the same species together depends a lot on the personalities on the individual tortoises.
Thanks for all the feedback

Ahh. My apologies.

As juveniles, all species can live together in groups of three or more. Every once in a while there is a problem tortoise, but most of the time groups work fine. Where you start to run into problems is when the males start reaching maturity. They are ready to go much sooner than the females and their advances can become a problem for other males and females. Redfoots, regular leopards, and stars all tend to do fine together as adults in mixed groups, but there are exceptions. Sulcata females usually get along, but sulcata males usually do not. Russians and desert tortoises are among the most scrappy, especially the males, but even the females go on the attack sometimes.

 

[mikeldurden]

Thank you. I’m already working on separating them