My tortoise seems lonely

[Elnewman622]

Greeks are highly aggressive. I've had my Greek for over twenty years, and he attacks anything that even resembles a tortoise. Now, you could get a second tortoise, but you would have to set him up in his own individual enclosure. Don't get me wrong. You can put them together occasionally for supervised visits, but these visits will most likely turn into boxing matches. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I keep marginated tortoises, and this time of year, the males tend to get a little down in the dumps, grazing less and whatnot. I find that if I introduce them into a neutral grazing area for a few minutes, they see each other, get in each other's faces, and chase each other around a bit. I always make sure that things don't get out of hand (I play tortoise referee, if you will). Once they have both gotten a good whiff of one another, I remove them to their respective enclosures. Usually, the males liven up quite a bit after this, and both of them march about their quarters, confident that they've chased off the intruder. This usually gets them grazing and patrolling. When it comes to my Greek, he is the only one in my group, so I usually introduce an empty turtle shell an uncle of mine got me as a gift (he's an idiot, but the gift actually proved useful). Once Graecus has put the beatdown on the empty shell, I remove it, and he patrols the enclosure like an angry alpha chimp.

Whatever you do, don't keep the tortoises together for any length of time unsupervised. Some folks keep a single male and multiple females together (multiple meaning three or more) in a large enclosure (large meaning an enclosure in excess of forty square feet, and preferably double or quadruple that size), but keeping more than one male per enclosure is risky. One animal will inevitably bully the other, and the less dominant animal will fail to thrive. You can try keeping the two males together. Many on this forum have. But make sure to have a separate habitat available in case they don't get along, which they most likely will not.

T.G.

Thankyou so very much this is very helpful to know

 

[Elnewman622]

yea i sometimes see them sun bathing on the pice of drift wood its crazy how good climbers torts are.

Ok thankyou so much this is really helpful

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

no problem! ask as may questions as you want! everyone on this forum is here to help!

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Not lonely. That's not a tortoise thing.

 

[ascott]

no....tortoise don't get the lonely thing as some people do....highly territorial....

 

[Yvonne G]

Just exactly what are you seeing that gives you the impression he's lonely? Tortoises don't have facial expressions, can sigh or pine outwardly. I think you're putting YOUR feelings on the tortoise. Believe me when I say, he's not lonely. He's very happy to be the king of his castle...the master of his domain, the **** of the walk!!! Tortoises are territorial and they don't want to have to share their food or the best hiding place with another tortoise - male or female. If you add another male tortoise you will be seeing bloody fighting and might end up with a dead tortoise.

On another note...the Zoo Med tortoise house isn't big enough for one adult male tortoise, let alone two.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

And the one thing we all agree on is stress KILLS torts . Agressations are not always bloody some times just them looking at each other . And by the way I have Greeks also . there are 4 in this enclosure not just 2 .


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[Tom]

I think you get the point by now, but we all have our own way of wording this...

Tortoises do not want or need companionship. They do not see other tortoises as "friends" or companions. They see them as competitors for the same resources and as combatants to run out of their territory, or if they lose they get run out of the territory. In our captive enclosures, the loser cannot leave the territory, and both tortoises suffer for it. They do best all alone. Pairs almost never work, but groups can sometimes work in the right enclosure with the right male to female ratio.

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

I just feel like he gets bored I have like rocks for him to climb on is there maybe anything else for him to to in his cage ?

I think it's quite hard to get your head around the fact that tortoises don't get lonely, but they don't.
Most domestic pets need entertainment, attention, petting, stroking etc. so it's quite difficult sometimes not to think tortoises are the same. Tortoises, sorry to say, are quite boring. They eat, they bask, they hide and they sleep. They don't need entertaining the way other pets do and they don't need things to play with or people to play with them.

If your tortoise is climbing the walls, I'd make your enclosure bigger.




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[Alaskamike]

One way I have helped in making the tort enclosure more interesting is with different levels of soil. In the inside enclosure I use Eco earth with coco cor. I have several depths and level of this. Kinda like hills and valleys. This works well with small ones. I find that logs , rocks, etc. can creates flipping on
N the back problems if not carefully placed. Watch for that and rearrange if you see him flip.
They need exersise. And a boring flat environment does not give much challenge.

 

[Jabuticaba]

What if I were to keep them separate but like when it's time to excezise put them in a common area for the both would they still fight

Welcome to the forum. Yes, they might still fight. Even if you watch them closely and don't let them get too close, it's still very stressful for them.


May
THBs: Darwin & Merlin
Aussies: Dax, Vegas, & Cricket
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Princessjay]

I have 2 baby med torts and ive already noticed the pushing and aggression between them. but they still want to eat together and sleep together. I can't figure out if its playing or aggression. Either way I think I need to sell one of them as I can't buy a 3rd and don't want to risk any injuries,.

 

[Elnewman622]

I have 2 baby med torts and ive already noticed the pushing and aggression between them. but they still want to eat together and sleep together. I can't figure out if its playing or aggression. Either way I think I need to sell one of them as I can't buy a 3rd and don't want to risk any injuries,.

You could always get another enclosure

 

[Princessjay]

You could always get another enclosure

I wish I could but I don't have the space

 

[smarch]

I wish I could but I don't have the space

Could always stack and build a second enclosure on top of the other, I know that's what people do and that's what I plan to do when I have a place and more torts.

 

[Princessjay]

No I live in an apartment so it's already quite small. I have a 3 foot tortoise table by the balcony. If I add another one it reduces the light. Only option is to sell. Makes me really sad x

 

[jeffjeff]

you could place the food in different areas round the enclosure so the tort has to look for it. my indoor enclosure has a small heather bush in it which he spends ages climbing up and down. there's some posts i've seen on here showing horrific damage caused by torts fighting which i find hard to look at. . so i wouldn't take the risk of putting 2 together. a couple pics of sparky just because he's awesome lol.

 

[Princessjay]

Awww how super cute!! Mine eat together and sleep together.... Just don't want to spend time together. It's harmless as they are hatchlings but need to separate the before anything happens x