New Tortoise Quarantine Time for leopard tortoise

[mosseytortoise]

So I had a quick question: at some point next year, I’m thinking about getting another leopard tortoise. If I get a Leo from AZ, the state I live in and got my first leo, how long would I need to keep the new one in quarantine before I introduce it to my first one? I appreciate any info you guys have to offer!

 

[wellington]

Tortoises should never be kept in pairs, so there is no quarantine period, as they should never live together. They will bully one another and most likely the new one would be the one getting it as he would be smaller. So stick with just the one or get 2 to 3 more. However, if you get stuck with all males, they would all have to live separated.

 

[Tom]

So I had a quick question: at some point next year, I’m thinking about getting another leopard tortoise. If I get a Leo from AZ, the state I live in and got my first leo, how long would I need to keep the new one in quarantine before I introduce it to my first one? I appreciate any info you guys have to offer!

Some vets recommend as little as 3 months. Most of the tortoise vets that I know recommend 9-12 months.

The problem is that there are so many terrible tortoise diseases floating around right now, and many of them are hard to diagnose without euthanizing the animal. Some species are asymptomatic carriers of diseases that will kill other species, and sometimes some individuals recover from one of the diseases and seem okay, but they are now little living disease dispersal agents.

I know this sounds bleak, and it is, but do your best to minimize the risk.

I agree that they should never be housed in pairs, so house them separately all the time, or get more than 2.