So my tortoise is about 5 now. And I wanted to get a tortoise to eventually breed her with. I’ve been researching and 9/10 of the Tortoise forum and Reddit posts say you should keep the Male and female in separate enclosures. I have acres of space in my backyard so building an enclosure for both wouldn’t be a problem. However, when I watch Tortoise videos on YouTube/TikTok I will see some people with 8 adult tortoises in the same enclosure. How is this possible?
Question about keeping more than one tortoise together.
- Thread starter RUGER5264
- Start date
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
Hello there! So tortoise of any species should NEVER be housed in pairs under any circumstances, they’re incredibly territorial, behaviours that look cute to us really aren’t, following one another and sleeping huddled up is all bullying the the tortoise world, you’ll eventually see more extreme signs of aggression.
However, small groups are fine provided there’s lots of land, the correct male to female ratio and they’re similar sizes/age, hence you’ll see keepers with small groups.
Anyone you see housing a pair in the same enclosure shouldn’t be, hope this helps!🙂
However, small groups are fine provided there’s lots of land, the correct male to female ratio and they’re similar sizes/age, hence you’ll see keepers with small groups.
Anyone you see housing a pair in the same enclosure shouldn’t be, hope this helps!🙂
Explained perfectly by @Littleredfootbigredheart
Pairs are a no go.
Groups can work well in the right circumstances.
Also, You are likely to get very bad tortoise advice from YT, TikTok, and reddit. I tried to watch 15 different tortoise care videos on YT and every single one of them was just terrible. I couldn't finish one of them. Just awful and full of bad info
SealMarioz
New Member
Usually males of a species will harass and chase female to mate all the time which can lead to injuries and unwanted stress, some males of species (especially large sudanese sulcata subspecies) can easily crush a female.
so it's best to keep a male and female housing seperate most of the time especially when you are gone unless you want injuries. (I learned this the hard way with breeding some arboreal lizards.)
My uncle who breeds sulcatas, leos, and box turtles, has 3 seperate paddocks for the sulcatas and grazing areas but only keeps 3 females in a 150 foot pen. Males live on their own pens. Some species like sulcatas (especially the sudanese subspecies) males get massive and can even crush a female.
I have 2 small female sulcatas that live and raised together but they have enough space of to be seperate in a 20 foot pen if a fight would occur.
so it's best to keep a male and female housing seperate most of the time especially when you are gone unless you want injuries. (I learned this the hard way with breeding some arboreal lizards.)
My uncle who breeds sulcatas, leos, and box turtles, has 3 seperate paddocks for the sulcatas and grazing areas but only keeps 3 females in a 150 foot pen. Males live on their own pens. Some species like sulcatas (especially the sudanese subspecies) males get massive and can even crush a female.
I have 2 small female sulcatas that live and raised together but they have enough space of to be seperate in a 20 foot pen if a fight would occur.
