Question About My Babies

[chartle]

I have 2 Baby Sulcata and everyone says to separate them immediately but they do everything together, they sleep together, eat together and follow each other when they are outside during the day! And yes someone is always outside with them. We love our turtles and they are very well taken care of! We put in small vegetable plants and grasses so when they are outside they have food to eat when they are out soaking up the Sun! They love to play in the water when the sprinklers come on!

 

[Lyn W]

I have 2 Baby Sulcata and everyone says to separate them immediately but they do everything together, they sleep together, eat together and follow each other when they are outside during the day! And yes someone is always outside with them. We love our turtles and they are very well taken care of! We put in small vegetable plants and grasses so when they are outside they have food to eat when they are out soaking up the Sun! They love to play in the water when the sprinklers come on!

It sounds as if you do love your torts very much, but I think you need to keep an eye on that behaviour because it could be the start of bullying. Torts are solitary creatures and don't like company so all the following, sleeping and eating together etc could be them trying to warn each other off their patch especially in an enclosed space where they can't get away from each other. It can be quite stressful for the torts and you may not even know it until one becomes ill or it becomes more physical, so I would heed the warnings others have given and be prepared to separate them.

 

[TechnoCheese]

I have 2 Baby Sulcata and everyone says to separate them immediately but they do everything together, they sleep together, eat together and follow each other when they are outside during the day! And yes someone is always outside with them. We love our turtles and they are very well taken care of! We put in small vegetable plants and grasses so when they are outside they have food to eat when they are out soaking up the Sun! They love to play in the water when the sprinklers come on!

Sadly, you just described some of the most common forms of bullying. While they may look affectionate, things like eating together, sleeping together, “cuddling”, and just being together in general are all crowding, or a tortoise trying to push and stress the other out of its territory. “Following” is actually them chasing each other away.

Yours need to be separated as soon as you can.

 

[Tom]

TechnoCheese explained it well, but to put it another way: If your tortoises didn't have rigid beaks, rigid shells, and a lack of vocal cords, you'd be seeing and hearing all the signs of aggression. Imagine if they were puppies. You be seeing snarling and raised hackles and warning barks at each other, but puppies are social animals and tortoises are not. They don't want or need company. Other tortoises are seen as intruders, attackers or competitors, not as friends or companions. Pair dynamics are especially bad. They can usually get along in groups of three or more, but pairs are much too personal. Both of your tortoises are experiencing unnecessary stress right now. In time the chronic stress can hamper the immune system and lead to major problems or death. They are already showing you the signs of tortoise aggression. You need to separate them.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

You come here for good advise , and here it is , but you don’t want to fallow it . Have a great day ![emoji217]