Head bobbing, straw or hay, multiple Russians

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vicki80

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Hay or straw.

Hay or straw which is best to use for a horsefield tort xx
Can you have a male and female horsefield torts living together x
I was just wondering what does it mean when my tort bobs his head up on down quiet quickly when my females around xx
 

Jacqui

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Hi and welcome! I prefer the coir and sand combo (20% or less sand) for my Russians. Yes you can have multiple Russians living together. However groups of one male and two or more females works the best. Head bobbing can be a sign of aggression or sexual in nature
 

wellington

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Neither hay or straw. Having one male and one female in the same enclosure is asking for the female possibly being bullied to illness or death. Tortoises are solitary creatures, they don't need a friend, and Russians are one of the worst for being with others.
 

lynnedit

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I have seen some use Alfalfa hay for a small area of the enclosure; in a hide, etc. But Russians don't really eat grass/hay, etc.

Head bobbing is a form of bullying, or establishing dominance. It might not lead to much, or one tort will get more aggressive and the other one will hide a lot and even get ill. If you can enlarge your enclosure, you would be better off with one male and 2 females so the one female does not get overwhelmed.
 

GBtortoises

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Although not ideal, straw would be a better choice than hay. Straw does not mold as easily and is typically not as dusty. For Horsfield (Russian) tortoises, which are a burrowing species, a better substrate choice would be one that is soil based or at least easy for them to dig in. It should also be deep enough for their entire shell to be covered once they've burrowed all the way to the bottom of the enclosure.

It is normally very difficult to keep a male and female Horsfield tortoise together. Sexually mature males of the species are usually very aggressive and territorial. They will often pursue a female that is within their territory to point of exhaustion. The constant breeding aggression will often cause the female to become very stressed and sometimes physically injured due to the males biting and ramming. Other males within a dominant males territory will be aggressively attacked and very often physically injured in the constant attempt to chase him from the dominant males territory. There are occasional times and unique cases where a male is not as dominant and others may be housed with him. The problem is that there is not necessarily a set pattern to this dominant dormacy and it can begin and end at anytime putting cagemates in the line of aggression in an instant. If a male is kept is it usually safest to either keep it alone or in a very large enclosure with multiple females. Adding a second male will literally sometimes double the amount of aggression from a dominant male.

Head bobbing is form of communication between tortoises. Males will often bob their head when a new cage mate appears within his territory. Head bobbing is often the initial "greeting" followed by the dominant male sniffing the newcomer. Quite often if it is a female she will sit still while the male goes around behind to sniff her rear end, to determine if she is a female. This is often almost immediately followed by a quick mounting, sometimes with or without first biting of the limbs and ramming.
More often than not a new female in a new environment will not be receptive to copulation and that is when the constant badgering by the male begins.
If a dominant male greets a new cage mate with head bobbing and the head bobbing is aggressively returned, as is done by another male, the dominant male will often instantly attack the new cage mate and a physical fight will ensue. Sometimes, the aggressive male accepts the head bobbing and goes to sniff the rear of the new tortoise. Again, once the aggressive male finds that he is dealing with another male the fighting often starts and will continue to point of physical injury. The dominant male isn't always the winner either. More often than not he is because he has the home field advantage. New tortoises are often less aggressive because of being placed in new, unfamiliar surroundings and not ready for an instant fight, but not always. Some are just naturally more aggressive than others in any situation. More rarely, but not unheard of is a female that may be more dominant and willing to fight with an already established male.

The bottom line is really that male Horsfield tortoises are best kept seperate from females except for breeding purposes. Two males are rarely going get along unless they are afforded a very large area with lots of hiding places.
 
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