Outdoor habitat for 2 female russian tortoises

elf2hats

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Aug 28, 2016
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Front Range of Colorado
Just thought I'd post a picture of the outdoor habitat for my two female russian tortoises, Poppy and Petunia.

Context:
I adopted Poppy and Petunia from a local rescuer in Sept 2016. They're each about 6"x5" in size. The more dominant one, Poppy, weighs almost 2 lbs. Petunia is shyer and weighs about 1.5 lbs.

Though they had been co-habitating, I saw signs of some domination by Poppy (based on input from others on this forum), so I separated them for most of the winter. The shyer one, Petunia, then seemed to be inspired (perhaps competitively?) to start eating next to Poppy after coming out of several weeks being buried. So I took out the barrier between the 4'x4' tortoise table, and they spent the rest of the winter being companionable.

I moved them outside after temperatures were reliably warm at night here in the front range of Colorado (mid-May or early June). The outdoor habitat consists of 3 raised garden beds, each about 6' x 8', and are now connected so that the tortoises have lots of room to roam and burrow between the 3 garden beds. The contents consist of a mixture of composted soil and coco coir. I planted hibiscus, pampas grass, dandelions, hollyhocks, polka-dot plants, and romaine lettuce.

They seem mostly interested in the lettuce, but sometimes eat the hibiscus leaves. I supplement with grape leaves from a neighbor's vine and organic romaine lettuce from the store. They never accepted Mazuri tortoise food, so I don't bother with that any more and just feed them leafy greens.

They also each laid two eggs while indoors. Because they had been exposed to a male before I got them, I incubated the eggs for 3+ months, but the eggs were all infertile. By then I really wanted a baby tortoise, so I ordered a baby Hermann's (from tortoisesupply.com), which arrived today! I'll house him/her separately and post pictures in a separate thread.
 

KevinGG

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I would always keep them separated. Pairs never do well, even outdoors. You'll find this is a universal truth on the forum. I can speak from experience as well. Even something like eating together can be a sign of aggression/dominance. I'd also increase the size of you indoor enclosures. I think 6 x 3 is the minimum I'd go indoors. Other than that, your outdoor enclosure is very nice. Cool idea.
 

Levi the Leopard

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I really like how the garden beds are connected giving you a large enclosure with multiple walls/ sight barriers.

It's true that even 2 female Russians can have issues BUT keep an eye out on how they do in your particular enclosure. With so many places to be "out of sight" in their great outdoors, they just might be ok.
 

Yvonne G

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You may be able to get by with keeping them together. Once they've established a top dog they may live peacefully together. You just have to be watchful at first.

You've done a great job on the outdoor habitat. I really like it. And I'll bet the girls get along just fine in there.
 
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