My M&M's have arrived

[MORTYtheTORTY]

me too
Thanks Lushcious!
Actually Morty the torty was the sick one we refunded in the local area and these 2 are from AZ sulcatas and we just used that same name for him and Morla is from the tortoise on neverending story hahaha I actually thought of my two M&Ms first and then the M's just fell into place

 

[Kerryann]

They are such cuties.

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

Thank you...I will take more pics later during the week once they settle in. IDK which one to call morty or which one to call morla but maybe i will take pics of their plastron and you guys can help me decide even though its just a guess.

 

[Jacqui]

I like green and the blue ones best myself.





They do look nice and healthy.

 

[Tom]

@Diane...I don't believe people who say they aren't social creatures. I believe they are very much social and I know for a fact they'd be lonely without eachother...they seem pretty close for the most part...

I'm happy that you are happy with your new torts, but the above is just not correct. I debated just not saying anything, but I think it is important for the people reading this to understand that keeping tortoises in pairs, especially aggressive species like sulcatas and russians, can often lead to problems.

Here is what I predict for your future... In the next few months, one of your two tortoises will greatly outpace the others growth rate. One of them will get the lions share of the food, the best basking and sleeping spots and it will intimidate the other one to the point of stress, just by being there. In the wild, the smaller one would simply leave the area when it started feeling uncomfortable. As they get older one will probably start humping the other, regardless of sex. If you happened to get two females, this part might not be so bad. If you got a male, or two males, you WILL see a lot of humping. This is very stressful for them. When they reach adulthood, or even just close to it, two females will probably be okay, but a male and female will lead to a situation where the male greatly stresses the female with his relentless advances. Two males and they will eventually start fighting every day until one of them is dead or you finally grant them some peace by separating them.

How do I know all this? What makes me so sure of all this? I have made this mistake in the past. Due to some unforeseeable circumstances, I have been revisiting this mistake recently too. I have seen it countless times. It is rare to see an exception to this. I'm not saying this to be mean or pick on you, I'm saying it so that you and others do not have to learn this lesson the hard way, as I did. Enjoy the cuteness for now, but get yourself a scale and watch the weights get farther and farther apart as the weeks and months pass...

 

[bigred]

My mom had 2 sulcatas and some of what Tom said did happen. They started out as hatchlings the same size and one grew huge and the other stayed small and timid. They were housed together, Enjoy your torts glad you are enjoying them

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

@Diane...I don't believe people who say they aren't social creatures. I believe they are very much social and I know for a fact they'd be lonely without eachother...they seem pretty close for the most part...

I'm happy that you are happy with your new torts, but the above is just not correct. I debated just not saying anything, but I think it is important for the people reading this to understand that keeping tortoises in pairs, especially aggressive species like sulcatas and russians, can often lead to problems.

Here is what I predict for your future... In the next few months, one of your two tortoises will greatly outpace the others growth rate. One of them will get the lions share of the food, the best basking and sleeping spots and it will intimidate the other one to the point of stress, just by being there. In the wild, the smaller one would simply leave the area when it started feeling uncomfortable. As they get older one will probably start humping the other, regardless of sex. If you happened to get two females, this part might not be so bad. If you got a male, or two males, you WILL see a lot of humping. This is very stressful for them. When they reach adulthood, or even just close to it, two females will probably be okay, but a male and female will lead to a situation where the male greatly stresses the female with his relentless advances. Two males and they will eventually start fighting every day until one of them is dead or you finally grant them some peace by separating them.

How do I know all this? What makes me so sure of all this? I have made this mistake in the past. Due to some unforeseeable circumstances, I have been revisiting this mistake recently too. I have seen it countless times. It is rare to see an exception to this. I'm not saying this to be mean or pick on you, I'm saying it so that you and others do not have to learn this lesson the hard way, as I did. Enjoy the cuteness for now, but get yourself a scale and watch the weights get farther and farther apart as the weeks and months pass...

I do trust your judgement but when that day comes then I will gladly seperate them. I doubt I have 2 males if anything 1 male and female but they might end up being 2 females. The one I call Morla is HUGE and the one I call Morty is very small compared to her...they seem to enjoy eachothers company for now and they seem pretty close. They bask at diff times and eat at diff times but very few times they are out and about together. I hope they don't start fighting and I do have alot of space to seperate them indoors and out as well. Thanks for the heads up Tom.

---

I like green and the blue ones best myself.





They do look nice and healthy.

lol I tried to like certain colors but they all just taste the same

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

My M&M's are 2months old now, IDK if you can tell that they grew through viewing the pics but they HAVE GROWN ALOT
They are in a 55 Gal now and seem really happy...I just added the log today and they are in love with it. LMK if you can tell that they are much bigger

The new enclosure

The log I added

They are eating

Morty

And Morla, she's scared lol

 

[ada caro]

Beautiful.

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

Thanks!

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

My babies are 7months now =D

 

[mainey34]

Congrats....they are very cute

 

[leonardo the tmnt]

RE: My M&M's have arrived

They grew a lot !

 

[mattgrizzlybear]

Awwwww, sooooo adorable!

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Also, maybe want to upgrade to a bigger tank

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

Thanks guys! they did grow alot =D
@Mattgrizzlybear I think they're fine in the tank they are in for now. Not sure if you looked at the previous pics of the whole tank cuz I didn't show in the updated pics up there but there is plenty more space besides the log area and I take them outside alot for plenty exercise(they also love the beach). I was also thinkin about building a second level area with a ramp, not sure how that will pan out but I will upload pics once I do.

They eat waaay too much, they eat 2 heads of lettuce a week..probably even more if I let them lol

 

[mctlong]

Looking good! How much do they weigh?

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

@Mctlong I have no clue