Sully housing

[thunderchin1]

Just received two amazing little sullys from Richard Fife. Temp sex female and unsexed most likely male. Both HET for ivory. I am housing them separate as of now but am curious if at hatchling age does it mater if they are housed together. In other words what are the pros and cons of housing them together at a young age. And they have about 1/3 acre to play on once they are older would there be any point in separating them then as well or with more space like that should they be fine. I imagine it all depends on their future temperaments.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

i think its fine housing them together when there younger as long as you provide a large enclosure for them. are these your first torts? also remember baby torts need there humidity 75% humidity and frequent soakings.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I have always ascribed to the theory that as hatchlings they do well in groups because that way there is competition for the food. I haven't run into trouble with groups until they start coming into breeding age. But some tortoises are just plain old more dominant right from the get go. You just have to keep an eye on them and if you see signs that one is not acting normal, stays hidden a lot or sleeps a lot, chances are he is being told by the other one to get out of his territory. If that happens, then two habitats are in order.

With the large size of your eventual sulcata yard, you can probably get away with them living in that space together, but be sure to have many visual barriers and several hiding places and don't feed them together.

 

[Tom]

They should never be housed in pairs. Not as hatchling, and definitely not as adults. Groups of hatchlings usually do fine together, but not pairs. As adults males should be ideally housed alone, and females can usually live in groups. You put a male with a lone female and he will likely harass her to death eventually. You put a male with more than one female and it can work out behaviorally, but then you have a baby factory. Literally.