Wanted Female Adult Sulcata tortoise

[elisabw]

Have 15 year old male, needs buddy, he's very territorial, male may not work. No breeding intrest, proven breeder doesn't matter. If you or someone you know has a 10-15 yr old felmale sulcata contact me. thanks Elisa
[email protected] Portland OR Will travel

 

[Kristina]

Not to sound totally negative, but - your tortoise does not "need" a buddy. He is perfectly fine by himself. While you may have no breeding interest - he does. He can literally breed a female to death, biting, flipping, etc. You also need a quarantine period of several months when adding a new tortoise.

In the end, it is your decision, but please do a bit more research, on the forum and on the web. With tortoises that size, it isn't something that can easily be done.

Welcome to the forum! We hope to hear more from you. Why don't you post an introduction and tell us more about your male?

 

[Laura]

I have to agree with above.. If you really want another tortoise, build a seperate area, but your tort is not lonely and doesnt need a buddy..

 

[Tom]

Hello and Welcome Elisa. Your going to have to wait in line. Its a very long line and it hasn't moved for me in the last ten years. I need a couple of females myself. I had a group of three, two males and a female and when the males hit maturity the fighting started. One male got moved to the other side of the ranch and the other got to stay with the female. He harasses her every time he sees her. He must breed her 10 times a day. She hides most of the time. My pen is 7000 square feet, wraps around three sides of a building, has lots of hills, hiding spots and shady areas in several distinct sections, but he still finds her. If my pen were any smaller or less intricate, I think I'd have to separate them. From what I've seen, there ought to be at least two or three females to each male. Many people have told me that when you have several females in with a male it actually settles them down a bit and they actually breed fewer times a day than if there were only one.

So I guess I'm saying you don't need a female, you need several. Ha Ha. Seriously though, I can tell you that you are opening a can 'o worms by adding a single female. In my experience it is not likely going to work out for you that way. My lone male acts perfectly normal and happy over there by himself AND he doesn't have to share his food anymore. Whatever you decide, we'd love to see pics and hear how it goes.

 

[spikethebest]

Welcome to the forum! And just like Tom said.... we want to see pictures!!!!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Elisa:

Welcome to the forum!!

I'm going to join the nay-sayers here. If you give your male a female tortoise, then decide to separate them because he's becoming too aggressive with her, he's going to change (personality-wise) into a different tortoise. He's going to march the confines of his pen, trying to climb the fence, he's going to be trying to dig out, he's not going to be the sweet, docile gentleman he is now. Once they've bred a female, it takes quite a long time for them to settle back into the old, pre-female routine.

Of course, its your tortoise, your decision, but in my opinion, if I wasn't wanting to breed, I would not add a female to the mix.

 

[Candy]

I have Fernando and I know he's a DT and not a Sulcata, but I do feel sorry for him in our backyard sometimes. I always feel like they do have a breeding cycle and they probably want to breed, but I don't have room for a female and I wouldn't want the hassle of dealing with that. The one thing that I've thought about though honestly is to find someone with a female and let him mate, that would be o.k. with me and I'm sure it would be more then o.k. with Fernando. I also feel the same way about Dale, if there's any available Cherryhead females out there.

 

[elisabw]

The reason why I think he needs a " buddy" is because he ALWAYS wants to be around people and he isn't a "gentleman." He walks up to you slowly, gets witin 4 inchs, tucks his head in, snorts and rams you. I think that that's my fault because when he was small we would play a 'push-a-war' game where we would push eachother. It was cute when he was small but know he will knock you over and can serously hurt you. I will take all of your advice into consideration. I just feel bad for him. In the summer he is a great, has a 50' x 250' yard with all kinds of fruit trees ect, but he only gets 4-5 months out there before he has to come in where it is warmer.
It is when he is inside that I feel he gets bored. My brother in law had three together and they seemed fine. I worried about intorducing a male and territory but I didn't consider a felmale being F-ed to death. Thanks for the warning. I didn't realize there was such a demand for them and had room and just thought I could make mine happy and give an unwanted one a home. Like I said, I am not interested in breeding. I will try to post a photo of him. PS... so if the advice is not to get a female "buddy" what's the advice of getting him a male buddy.

 

[Tom]

Most of the time males will fight. I kept finding my larger male on his back in the summer sun, unable to right himself. These two lived together peacefully for ten years prior to this. They would fight so hard that it was moving the block walls that make up their pen when they knocked each other into them. It can be done in a large enough group sometimes, in some situations, but it usually doesn't work out in smaller numbers or pairs. I have a friend who gave his large male to another guy who had a group. The new male systematically killed all the other males while the guy was at work during the day. They would all be getting along fine and he'd come home from work and find one dead and all beat up. Graphic story, I know, but that's how it typically goes when mixing mature males in small groups.

Sorry that's not what you wanted to hear, but if we didn't tell you this, you (and the tortoises) would learn the hard way, like we all did. That's all I'm trying to avoid. If you get another one, just be prepared to separate and house each of them alone.

 

[Annieski]

If it is just to keep him from getting "bored" over the winter, why don't you try a brightly colored, inanimate object, like a bucket or a "half- deflated" gym ball. If it works-- you don't have the "territorial fighting" to worry about. JMT

 

[Laura]

He doesnt need a buddy. He is not human. a big part of this forum and others like it, is so people can learn from other peoples mistakes or years of expereince. We share, we talk, we learn. Dont risk the life of your tortoise or another one.

 

[elisabw]

I guess I will try the beach ball thing. He doesn't hibernate so it's a long time to be inside. He has plexy glass windows to look out but he has scratched them all up. There is also a hole big enough for his head to stick out and he does that alot to watch what's going on. It bothers me because like I said, I think he is bored. He is way to big for me to take him in and out every day to let him mess around. His cage is plenty big for him to move around. I just feel bad because from about mid Oct to mid April (mid May this year b/c we had a cold *** spring) he is alone and bored. Maybe instead of getting him a friend, I will consintrate on making him a cage he can get in and out of by himself. Then he can be entertained by ruining all my stuff.
For all of you interested in a photo, I finally figured out how to down load them on the site but it's in a "public" album or something. I haven't figured out how to get it in my own album or next to my name. His name is Mr. T and they were downloaded 9-28. I will spend a few more hours tonight to try and figure out how to put him next to my name.

I just saw how to add him as an attachment to this post so you can see him that way.

Sorry if you guys think I am an ignorant F, it's just I have had him since he was 2" long and he's my guy. He is so f...ing intelligent, I'm just worried that he's bored 3/5 of the year. I just want him to be happy.

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Welcome to the forum! And just like Tom said.... we want to see pictures!!!!!