Tortoise mommy of 3

[Desiree Baker]

Hello. I am in Missouri. I have a Red footed Tortoise named Bella. I have had her for 4 years. She was 2 when a lady down the road sold her. She is big. She thinks she is a dog. She will try and eat dog food. She walks around the house, she will come up to you and stretch her head out to be petted like a dog. She is very people friendly and loves attention. I have a Russian tortoise, his name is Spike, I like to think I rescued him. I walked into Petsmart and he was in a glass cage freaking out. I brought him home at 3 months old. I have had him 3 months and he is mean. He doesn't want messed with, he doesn't wanna be held. He doesn't like other tortoises. He rarely comes out of his shell and he recently killed my Sulcata hatchling. I however, refuse to give up on him. I just learned a very difficult lesson. I have since redone housing and will be working on a new Sulcata baby very soon. I just need to finish up the new housing first. My Sulcata's name was Bulbasaur and she is missed dearly. She was about a month old when I got here. I had her 4 months and made the mistake of caging her with Spike. She was loving and likex pet by me. She was still scared of everyone else yet.
I will soon get a new one and name it Ivysaur but not until house 3 is finished.
Thanks for reading and please no negative words on my lack of tortoise parenting for Bulbasaur. I am aware I messed up bad.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi Desiree

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome Desiree! It's never a good idea to put different species of tortoise in the same enclosure. Besides the size thing, each species has different pathogens inside them that they are in tune with, but tortoises from other continents exposed to these pathogens may get sick or die from it.

It sounds like you've been bitten by the tortoise bug! We have some pretty good care sheets for you to read. They're posted at the top of each species in the species specific sections.

 

[Desiree Baker]

Welcome Desiree! It's never a good idea to put different species of tortoise in the same enclosure. Besides the size thing, each species has different pathogens inside them that they are in tune with, but tortoises from other continents exposed to these pathogens may get sick or die from it.

It sounds like you've been bitten by the tortoise bug! We have some pretty good care sheets for you to read. They're posted at the top of each species in the species specific sections.

 

[Desiree Baker]

Yep unfortunately the place I had research from said that until my sulcata was bigger that her and my Russian could be together. I learned that Russians are actually pretty territorial and I have looked through this forum alot to change housing. My red footed was way to big and although friendly she doesn't watch where she steps so I knew not to share with her.

 

[PJay]

Welcome!

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome. I am sorry for your loss.

If you bought your Russian from a Petsmart, its' around four to five years old. You are right, they are extremely territorial and definitely don't want a hug!

I'd encourage you to read the care sheet on Russians well before you bring your new Sulcata home http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/.

 

[Desiree Baker]

Supposivly he was only 2 months old when I purchased him. He was actually fine then one day he wasnt. It was sad because I went into petsmart just to waste time there but he look misrable so I wanted to rescue him. :/ but like all animals easier said than done

 

[RosemaryDW]

Supposivly he was only 2 months old when I purchased him.

Well, they might have had him the store for two months. Often the employees don't know any better. "Captive" Russian tortoises are brought over to the U.S. for sale when they are four or five, before they reach sexual maturity. Because they are small, people believe they are babies.

I imagine he was under quite a bit of stress there; they usually are, as the setup is so poor.