Sulcata Colony

[Caylipessin]

Hey there!
I have seen posts about people who have had successful sulcata colonies. My question is, is this possible and how to I obtain it?
I have 2 males and am considering rescuing a female from a rescue group. My males are separated right now and each have about 6,000 sq feet as an enclosure. I have a 1 acre fenced yard and wanted to know your opinions on the torts living together in this large space. Is this enough space for them to have their own area without a lot of fighting? Is this enough space for the female to get away to avoid over breeding?
I am moving to 14 acres and will have a 2 acre fenced yard for the torts.
Please let me know your thoughts

 

[wellington]

@Tom

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinjon, the male/female ratio is out of kilter no matter how big the yard. In my opinion the female should always have her own yard.

 

[Caylipessin]

In my opinjon, the male/female ratio is out of kilter no matter how big the yard. In my opinion the female should always have her own yard.

What about one male and one female together on 1-2 acres?

 

[Tom]

Hey there!
I have seen posts about people who have had successful sulcata colonies. My question is, is this possible and how to I obtain it?
I have 2 males and am considering rescuing a female from a rescue group. My males are separated right now and each have about 6,000 sq feet as an enclosure. I have a 1 acre fenced yard and wanted to know your opinions on the torts living together in this large space. Is this enough space for them to have their own area without a lot of fighting? Is this enough space for the female to get away to avoid over breeding?
I am moving to 14 acres and will have a 2 acre fenced yard for the torts.
Please let me know your thoughts

A colony works most of the time. A colony would be 2 or 3 dozen of them. A group of two males and a female will not work. Two females and one male cold work, but better to have three females to one male. To do multiple adult males you will need at least a half acre and a dozen tortoises. Even then some males just won't tolerate it and you will have to have some separate pens anyway.

 

[Tom]

I got interrupted by dinner... I would also caution you that if you mix males and females, you will have a baby tortoise factory and your new full time job will be housing, soaking, feeding, raising, and selling baby sulcatas. I'm not exaggerating. Each female can easily produce 100 babies a year. To move that kind of volume, you have to wholesale them out. Wholesale cost for them is pretty low and with the thousands of dollars it takes to feed, heat and house them, its just not worth it.

It would really be best if they each lived alone in their own enclosures. This makes it much easier to keep track of their food and water intake and keep them healthy and happy. Groups of just females usually work too, if you want to go that route.