New baby

Sophie Micinski

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im so excited to go and adopt a new little sibling for my young sulcata. He has so much energy and needs someone to play with while I'm at school. I'm going to go and pick up a baby Greek tort today and I'm so excited but nervous! I hope they'll hit it off right off the bat! Any suggestions on how to handle this?

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domagoj

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Here's one suggestion. DON'T GET HIM A FRIEND! Tortoises are solitary animals and they don't need/want friends. Let alone mixing species. If you do get another tort you should house it separate from your sulcata.
 

JoesMum

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Tortoises are solitary animals. They do not want or need a friend. Another tortoise is simply a rival for food and space. Sulcatas are one of the most territorial species going.

You should never mix species. Germs that one species tolerates could kill another.

Also there is a massive size difference between Greeks and Sulcatas. If not now, it will be noticeable very soon. Your sulcata will grow to a 100lb bulldozer that will kill a Greek.

In any case, any new tortoise must be kept entirely separately in quarantine for at least 6 months to ensure neither makes the other sick.

Get a second tortoise, but keep them separately. Pairs do not work.
 

Maro2Bear

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Sophie, stop......save urself a ton of issues, cost and stress. There are probably 1000's of posts where people "discover" thst keeping torts together is a bad idea, let alone two different species. I see you are located in Wisconsin, which also means indoor enclosures for a good part of the year.
 

SarahChelonoidis

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As said above, tortoises do not want friends. A Greek is a particularly unsuitable candidate to live with a sulcata. They can not be housed together as they require different housing conditions - even if the size, temperament, and disease issues weren't a big problem. Do not house your sulcata with a Greek.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Sophie, and welcome to the Forum!

Do you get the impression that we think it's a bad idea for you to put a Greek baby in with a sulcata baby? I know you've got your heart set on doing this, but please, please listen to us.

1. Never mix species. Tortoises that could never come into contact with each other in the wild should never, ever be put together in captivity!
2. Tortoises kept in pairs almost always end up with a dominant and a submissive. The less dominant tortoise will try to stay out of the dominant tortoise's space/sight, and in doing so, he will stop eating, staying hidden most of the time, and eventually get sick and die.
3. Sulcatas hatch out during the monsoon season and need to be kept in warm, moist conditions. Without the humidity they start to grow bumpy (pyramiding), just like yours is.
4. Greek tortoises don't require as much humidity as a sulcata tortoise and would do ok in an open-topped table as long as a little humidity is provided.
5. Sulcata tortoises grow very quickly. In a year your little sulcata could be twice or three times the size of your little Greek. This could be very harmful to the smaller tortosie, if he should live that long.
 

Yvonne G

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Whoa... I almost feel attacked. I take your words to great consideration though.

Yeah, we all pretty much jumped all over you on this one, huh? It's just because we feel very strongly about the two subjects - mixing species and keeping tortoises in pairs. We've seen bad things happen over and over again and are hoping you can learn from our experiences without having your tortoises harmed in the process.
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Hello, Sophie, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.:)
Wise words spoken by all above.
Happy New Year to you and your sulcata.
 

JoesMum

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Whoa... I almost feel attacked. I take your words to great consideration though.
Hi Sophie

Sorry about that, we're not attacking you. Only the advice you have received.

At least you know that we're unanimous that mixing species is a very bad idea and so are pairs

Groups of 3 or more tortoises of the same species and a similar size with only 1 male may be successful in a very large enclosure with plenty of sight barriers, but pairs almost never. Sulcatas in particular can be very aggressive in these circumstances... even the little ones.

Quarantine applies whatever.

The members of TFO have hundreds of years of experience between them (we've had ours for 46 years) We are jumping in to try to help you avoid mistakes that we know from our own experience could result in the death of your tortoise.
 

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