My tortoise seems lonely

Elnewman622

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I have a male greek tortoise and he seems lonely and my family and I were thinking about getting another male, we have those tortoise cages that are wood and we were going to get another so they have their own burring area. But my main question is would there be terriorial issues because of them both being males ?
 

Elnewman622

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I have a male Greek . He seems Lonley and my family and k thought it would be a good idea to get another male . We haven't gotten it yet but we have said we want to . My question is would it be a good idea ? See we have the tortoise house by zoo med and I've seen people put two together but I'm nervous about there being teritory issues because of that their makes? We are not considering a female. And I just want to know if it's a good idea ?
 

G-stars

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Not a good idea to house then together. You would need a separate enclosure for him.


— Gus
 

Elnewman622

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welcome to the forum!!!!!:Dtortoises are territorial animals, not seeking companionship in the wild. 2 male will try to fight, bitting and trying to flit one another.
What if I were to keep them separate but like when it's time to excezise put them in a common area for the both would they still fight
 

Elnewman622

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Not a good idea to house then together. You would need a separate enclosure for him.


— Gus
What would happen if I kept them apart but when it comes time to let them out and walk around in common ground would they fight still?
 

G-stars

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Your welcome. Make sure to put lots of hides for them to avoid each other if they choose to.


— Gus
 

Elnewman622

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That would be fine as long as it's large enough to get away from each other.


— Gus
One more question sorry to bother but I feel like he gets bored , I let him walk around in the house to get his exercise , and I have rocks for him but he doesn't seem to find them interesting do you have any suggestions for things to put in his house to give him more things to do because I always find him trying to climb up the sides and this is what made me think that he is lonely
 

G-stars

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Well you can put lots of safe plants to make it more interesting and for him to eat. Or make his enclosure larger or make a safe outside enclosure for him. Tortoises love being outdoors.


— Gus
 

Elnewman622

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Well you can put lots of safe plants to make it more interesting and for him to eat. Or make his enclosure larger or make a safe outside enclosure for him. Tortoises love being outdoors.


— Gus
Well out side where I live is cold and rainy would it be good if I found more things for him to climb on maybe ?
 

tglazie

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Greeks are highly aggressive. I've had my Greek for over twenty years, and he attacks anything that even resembles a tortoise. Now, you could get a second tortoise, but you would have to set him up in his own individual enclosure. Don't get me wrong. You can put them together occasionally for supervised visits, but these visits will most likely turn into boxing matches. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I keep marginated tortoises, and this time of year, the males tend to get a little down in the dumps, grazing less and whatnot. I find that if I introduce them into a neutral grazing area for a few minutes, they see each other, get in each other's faces, and chase each other around a bit. I always make sure that things don't get out of hand (I play tortoise referee, if you will). Once they have both gotten a good whiff of one another, I remove them to their respective enclosures. Usually, the males liven up quite a bit after this, and both of them march about their quarters, confident that they've chased off the intruder. This usually gets them grazing and patrolling. When it comes to my Greek, he is the only one in my group, so I usually introduce an empty turtle shell an uncle of mine got me as a gift (he's an idiot, but the gift actually proved useful). Once Graecus has put the beatdown on the empty shell, I remove it, and he patrols the enclosure like an angry alpha chimp.

Whatever you do, don't keep the tortoises together for any length of time unsupervised. Some folks keep a single male and multiple females together (multiple meaning three or more) in a large enclosure (large meaning an enclosure in excess of forty square feet, and preferably double or quadruple that size), but keeping more than one male per enclosure is risky. One animal will inevitably bully the other, and the less dominant animal will fail to thrive. You can try keeping the two males together. Many on this forum have. But make sure to have a separate habitat available in case they don't get along, which they most likely will not.

T.G.
 
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