What do this mean?

[Evie]

Just recently my male horsfield tortoise has started biting and pulling at my female horsfield tortoises' legs and neck!
She has since become shy and frightened when you put your hand near her.
The male is about 1 and a half maybe 2 and the female is about 1 ish.
What could it be?

 

[dmmj]

at 1 and a half and 1 sex is impossible to determine, at this point I would say you have 2 tortoises that don't get a long. I would separate them and keep them separate for the time being, it is unfair to subject the one tortoise to this type of behavior from the other one.

 

[Evie]

I have them seperated at the minute.
They have lived together now for 3/4 months and he never did it but he's just started.
It upsets me because they got a long so well before!

 

[dmmj]

Well it just happens sometimes, I know of tortoises that get along for months and years sometimes and then all of the sudden a switch is thrown and they can't get along. Sometimes there is no reason for it, other times puberty hits and they start developing territory. Personally i would keep them separate for a month and then see what happens, it could be temporary and it could be permanent, if you really want to keep them together a bigger enclosure might work.

 

[Evie]

Ok, i will leave it a month and see what happens!
Thanks for your help

 

[JoesMum]

Back on my hobby horse!

Russians are one of the many species that are solitary in the wild. They don't get lonely and they don't seek out company except for mating.

In captivity there is limited space and they become very jealous of their territory and food. Males and females are equally bad.

The trigger for these dominance displays can be hormonal, or it could be as simple as rearranging things in the enclosure.

When they fight the dominant tort bites and blood is frequently drawn. The male approach to romance also involves biting and blood can again be drawn!

As you have seen the subordinate tort becomes withdrawn and can become ill and die.

It is better to separate them and accept that this is likely to be permanent for the sake of their health. If you wish to breed, just introduce them to do the business and then separate them.

 

[Laura]

It means its time to seperate... or build a very large enclosure with lots of hides and two sperate areas.. and you still may have to seperate..
Dont wait a month.. your female may die..

 

[JoesMum]

Dont wait a month.. your female may die..

I completely agree!

 

[Evie]

Sorry I meant wait a month with them seperated.

 

[Tom]

Agreed. Russians tend to be an aggressive species and should not be housed as a pair. Sometimes they do okay as groups in very large enclosures, but pairs seldom work out.

 

[JoeImhof]

They don't get lonely and they don't seek out company except for mating.

I disagree strongly with the above sentence. Forgetting males for a moment, when my two females see each other, they almost always go over to each other. They certainly do seem to seek out each others company. Not just once in a while, but very much so, all the time.
And of course it goes without saying when the male is put with them, he follows them around.

Now the point you are making, that they can live alone in a solitary life and be just fine, thats very true. But saying they dont seek out others company, that part is not true, at least not for my two ladies!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

How big is the enclosure? They might need more space.

 

[Evie]

Thanks for your replies, they have a fairly big enclosure which is temporary. My boyfriend is ordering a much bigger one but not sure if I should still separate them then or if it's bigger would it be ok?

 

[JoesMum]

No you need to separate them now.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Dont wait a month.. your female may die..

I completely agree!