- Joined
- Oct 11, 2011
- Messages
- 6
I have always been a mammal person having owned dogs and rabbits most of my life. I received a Sulcata hatchling as a birthday present over 4 years ago. I took owning a reptile very seriously. Having always had endotherms, I found myself poking and prodding poor Olive to make sure she was alive while she basked. I obviously had a lot of learning to do! Here I am now and she is almost 5 years old. She is just under 20 pounds (her visit to the vet a few months ago put her at 17 pounds) and I just got another one. I didn't go hunting for Helga, she was an owner dump at the vet clinic. They knew someone who knew someone who knew I had one and now I have 2. They are about the same size (Helga is 15 pounds) and both females. My vet checked Helga out (conveniently, two of my vets actually own Sulcatas!) She had no upper respiratory concerns and seemed pretty healthy. So I took her home and put her in Olive's box. Olive was not too thrilled about her shelled intruder. She is used to the cats and dogs, but another tortoise? She bulled around her box with her head in her shell pushing Helga around. I gave them some food and let them be for the night checking in on them frequently. The next morning I put them both outside in the yard for free roaming and grass eating. They were great together. Olive has her favorite spots to relax in (under the deck in her enormous hole and behind the tree in the cool damp shade) and that day she was always relaxing with Helga. They even both hung out at the bottom of the steps together which Olive has never done! They went out the next few days but not yesterday. My long work day would have put them out when it was dark and in the 50s and when I got home it was was dark and in the 60s. So, they didn't go out yesterday. When I woke up this morning and went to go check on the two of them, Helga had been flipped and pooped while on her side. I am sure she was stressed. I have no idea how long she had been flipped for - although the poop was very fresh. I offered them some romaine mixed with dried orchard grass and Olive went to town and Helga just walked away. I don't know Helga all that well, so I am not sure if she just isn't as food motivated as Olive, if she is still stressed about being flipped, or if there is something bigger going on here. I need some advice! Is this normal Sulcata behavior? Should I call my vet and bring her back in to make sure she is OK? Olive is an eating machine, the way you read online! She will do almost anything for a bite of tomato or strawberry (no worries, she only gets those occasionally). I offered a corn on the cob to the girls a few days ago and Helga seemed like she didn't know what to do with it. Olive finished hers and started chowing down on Helga's before she had 3 bites in. Is this part of her adjusting? Is it normal for Olive to be so 'pushy' with Helga? Any information and suggestions would be appreciated. I posted a picture of the girls in my intro.