Horsefeild tortoises

[KarlRobinson]

Hi All, I have recently bought two horsefeild tortoises and they are brilliant, just after some advice pointers, on the viv, they are 8 months, the viv is 4ft x 2ft x 2ft, I have two hides, well potentially 3 as they like being under the tree, I was just curious, how much they like the water, as they dip in and out but rarely,twice maybe 3 times a week, also feeding,am in correct in saying no more food bigger than their shell? If anything looks incorrectly set up please tell me I have attached a pic theirs is the top, viv, heated end set to 38, and cool end montiored at 28 to 30 water positioned just over half way in cool end more, thanks karl

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome,
You'll find this useful, it is an up to date caresheet - there is a lot of old information still being passed around by pet stores and some breeders but if you follow this caresheet you won't go far wrong.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Unfortunately you should never keep 2 torts together especially Russians/ Horsefields.

Torts are solitary creatures and very territorial so you will soon start to see one becoming dominant if it hasn't already started.
One will start to bully the other and starts with staring, following, trying to hog all the food and best basking space and what some people mistake for affection or cuddling is actually aggressive nudging. It becomes more physical and can result in serious injury and even death from barging and biting. It is very stressful for both torts when they are forced to live together in a small space and this can cause illness. A pretty miserable life for them. So you need to set up a second enclosure asap or return one to the place you bought it.

If you post some pics of your enclosure you'll get better feedback on ways you can make it as safe as possible

 

[Lyn W]

There are many examples of tort aggression to another on the forum but this is a good warning

Why not to keep 2 tortoises together - a lesson learned the hard way

This is a copy/paste of an article I wrote on my blog last year. I've seen several new keepers ask the question of whether they should get a 'friend' for their tortoise, and so rather than keeping on linking to my blog (which feels kinda self-promoting, which is not my intent), I am creating a...

tortoiseforum.org

I just noticed the picture, can you put one tort in the bottom?
I think you'll need to post a close up of the top so we can see the substrate. It looks like pellets which is not recommended as it is too dry and goes moldy. See what the caresheet recommends.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome!

I wish the tortoises would have been visible in the picture.

 

[Walnut's_pet]

Hi Karl and welcome