A 2-fer Question

[thewatsonfarm]

So it looks like we are going to adopt a tortoise (not sure what breed yet). A realtor friend asked us for help because he has a client who is moving & can't take his 3 tortoises. Ugh, but okay. I like tortoises. My Dad had a leopard tortoise named Zoomer & he was a hoot!

Anyhow... 2 questions:
1. I understand that tortoises don't need pals. One is better. I agreed to take one. But the realtor seems to think these tortoises are a bonded set of siblings? Can that be true? Is there an exception for aggressive behavior of they've lived together their whole lives? (I don't want to take the current homeowner's word for it.)

2. We have chickens that free-range in the yard. The tortoise would have his own enclosure separated from the chicken enclosure, but during the day we let the hens roam the yard & hoped to let the tortoise do the same. The yard is secure, there's a lot of cover and hiding spots and really no potential dangers I can identify. But the chickens themselves.... anyone else have both? We have a rabbit that come into the yard sometimes and the hens completely ignore him. Any reason to think the hens & tortoise wouldn't get along?

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts & experiences!

 

[wellington]

Depends if the tortoises is one male and two females. There really is no bonding in tortoises. Even with the correct group of one male to several females one or more fluid still need to be separated.
Not a good idea to let the tortoise roam where chickens do. The torts could eat the poop or the chickens could peck the torts. We just had a member who's chicken had a baby snapping turtle in its beak.
We really need to know what species to better help you.
I would believe the realtor, what the heck would s/he know about tortoises anyway.