Kendra North
New Member
Two and a half years ago my husband and I got our first tortoises without doing enough initial research. We bought one leopard tortoise and one sulcata tortoise who at the time were the same size, the size of an average fist. Since then they have grown and the sulcata is much larger now (about 18 inches long @20 pounds, and the leopard is about 7 inches long). We house them in the night box enclosure that we built according to Tom's specifications in this forum. They roam our large backyard during the day.
They are now old enough to determine the sex, and it appears that the sulcata is the female and the leopard is the male. I thought this would work out, but the past week or so the sulcata has been very timid and is trying to hide most of the time and not eating. I finally caught the leopard trying to mount the sulcata and chasing her around if she tried to escape. It seems the sulcata is intimidated by the leopard. Does anyone have advice on what we should do? Do we need to separate them completely? We don't have the resources to setup another night box with heater, etc., so we may have to "rehome" one if so :-(
They are now old enough to determine the sex, and it appears that the sulcata is the female and the leopard is the male. I thought this would work out, but the past week or so the sulcata has been very timid and is trying to hide most of the time and not eating. I finally caught the leopard trying to mount the sulcata and chasing her around if she tried to escape. It seems the sulcata is intimidated by the leopard. Does anyone have advice on what we should do? Do we need to separate them completely? We don't have the resources to setup another night box with heater, etc., so we may have to "rehome" one if so :-(