Mixing specie

[PrincessToad]

I have a russian tortoise and I am thinking of buying a sulcata. I am aware they cannot be housed in the same habitat because Russians are somewhat loners. Just wondering if they will play nice during outdoors hours? Does anyone have this family mixture?

 

[theelectraco]

They needs to be housed separately both indoors and out.


0.1.0 Dachshund
0.0.1 Redfoot
1.0.0 Greek

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

There is more reasoning behind not mixing species rather than them just being "loners". Russians are notorious for carrying diseases and could get your Sully sick. This is part of why we don't mix different species, they carry different illnesses. There are also major size differences, cross breeding issues, different personalities/behaviours, etc. So no I would not risk having them in the same area at all. Too risky, especially with Russians.

 

[Laura]

your sulcata can kill the Russian as well, once it gets bigger...
They don't play....
two separate areas...

 

[Baoh]

I would not personally recommend combining a WC Russian subadult/adult with a large sulcata unless you have a ton of experience with exactly this and, since you are asking, it is indicative of that not being quite the situation, so better to not proceed with that as an option.

For a temporary thing, one could pull off putting small CB with small CB with decent quarantine and other measures both beforehand and during care, but I would not prefer to select this option and I have a lot of success with species combination. With the need for a separate quarantine enclosure to perform quarantine properly, though, you might as well just stick to the separate enclosure from the get-go.

I have had three Russians get along swimmingly with a single very well mannered sulcata in the past, but very few people could control something like this without overwhelming luck being on their side, so I would still advise against it.

 

[PrincessToad]

I would not personally recommend combining a WC Russian subadult/adult with a large sulcata unless you have a ton of experience with exactly this and, since you are asking, it is indicative of that not being quite the situation, so better to not proceed with that as an option.

For a temporary thing, one could pull off putting small CB with small CB with decent quarantine and other measures both beforehand and during care, but I would not prefer to select this option and I have a lot of success with species combination. With the need for a separate quarantine enclosure to perform quarantine properly, though, you might as well just stick to the separate enclosure from the get-go.

I have had three Russians get along swimmingly with a single very well mannered sulcata in the past, but very few people could control something like this without overwhelming luck being on their side, so I would still advise against it.

If I have them both interact from a young age is there a better chance for success?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

You are forgetting there is more to the "no" answer than just getting along.


Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I've got both in multiples. And none have met each other.

 

[Baoh]

I would not personally recommend combining a WC Russian subadult/adult with a large sulcata unless you have a ton of experience with exactly this and, since you are asking, it is indicative of that not being quite the situation, so better to not proceed with that as an option.

For a temporary thing, one could pull off putting small CB with small CB with decent quarantine and other measures both beforehand and during care, but I would not prefer to select this option and I have a lot of success with species combination. With the need for a separate quarantine enclosure to perform quarantine properly, though, you might as well just stick to the separate enclosure from the get-go.

I have had three Russians get along swimmingly with a single very well mannered sulcata in the past, but very few people could control something like this without overwhelming luck being on their side, so I would still advise against it.

If I have them both interact from a young age is there a better chance for success?

I would say it really is not that simple and it is best left undone in the situation as brought up here.

 

[Tom]

On this very rare occasion, I agree with Baoh.

In my opinion, it is generally a bad idea to mix species.

 

[PrincessToad]

Thank you.

 

[Wewt]

What about mixing an aldabra tortoise with a sulcata tortoise?

Same "no"s across the board?

 

[Tom]

What about mixing an aldabra tortoise with a sulcata tortoise?

Same "no"s across the board?

Yep. That's a bad match due to personality too, in my opinion.

 

[Wewt]

What about mixing an aldabra tortoise with a sulcata tortoise?

Same "no"s across the board?

Yep. That's a bad match due to personality too, in my opinion.

Rats.

 

[Baoh]

What about mixing an aldabra tortoise with a sulcata tortoise?

Same "no"s across the board?

Depends. Works fine for mine, but my sulcatas are all very mild mannered. I would not let an aggressive male just do as he might please in such a scenario. I only keep one male in the main tortoise yard. My Aldabra tends to associate with my forest species more, though. Especially the larger juvenile yellow foot tortoises.