Rowdy Russian

[Kim]

I have a 3 year old Russian male and lately his behavior has been a little unusual. He has been about ten times more active as usual. As soon as he gets into the yard, he just keeps going and won't stop. Normally he just kind of hangs out and enjoys the sun. He has been doing this for over a week. We don't know if this time of year tortoises are generally more active or what the deal is. He just seems to have this burst of energy that is lasting a long time. Is this normal for tortoises or is there a reason for this behavior?

 

[Iluvemturts]

Good question....
I have some that enjoy hanging out and some that are gone in a flash. I guess it could be a couple of things.
1) male seeking a girlfriend or
2) just his personality

 

[Kim]

I thought maybe he was looking for a ladyfriend, but I also thought he was too young to be mating. Another question I had was do Russians get lonely by themselves, do they do better off with others around?

 

[malonemadness]

I thought maybe he was looking for a ladyfriend, but I also thought he was too young to be mating. Another question I had was do Russians get lonely by themselves, do they do better off with others around?

I have a male russian also. When mine takes off like that he is usually looking for a place to hide. I did get him two female friends recently. He still takes off running. The two females hang out together more than the males/females.

 

[Jacqui]

Another question I had was do Russians get lonely by themselves, do they do better off with others around?

Are you expecting a yes or no answer? I have learned in the shelled world, there is no yes or no answer only a gray middle ground of sometimes yes, sometimes no. lol

In the wild the torts are solitary animals, coming together when paths cross for mating. So that would tell you no, they don't need mates or friend torts. That the need for companionship is just us humans giving the torts are own emotional need for companionship.

Yet there are endless stories of keepers telling of how some animals appear pair bonded. How when one animal is missing the other becomes "lost and sad". They go off fed and pace around or lay still and depressed looking.

Some will tell how much more active and appearing happy a tort was when they got a new friend.

Then again you have the stories of just the opposite. Usually it is two males who really dislike each other...most likely a dominance thing. Or a male in with a female who bothers the female too much and stresses her out. Both of these can lead to physical harm and even death for one of the animals.

I think it comes down to do you have room to adequately house two or more? You need a lot more room, because your going to need more visual barriers in place, just in case one wants or needs to escape for time away from his friend. Do you want to chance breeding? Or would you want two of the same gender? If your two turn out to not be compatible, are you willing to get rid of one...or set up a whole new complete area for it?

Also remember with a new one, there is first going to be a mandatory isolation time from your old one. Just to screen for health problems and such. Some say that needs to be as little as 3 months. With all the diseases out there and as slow as some are to appear, I myself go with a year...longer would even be better, but normally we don't want to give longer.

Me personally, I do like to, when possible, keep my animals in groups. However the lone ones I have also seem to do fine.