Hi, im not here to have anyone tell me im right or wrong for how I raise my tortoises. Im here to see if anyone else houses theirs the same & give my opinion & experience on free roaming/cage free.
I started with 2 Hermann's torts. Male & female. The pet store claimed they were "paired" and would apparently die without the other if separated so i got them both. Thats extremely false btw. Tortoises are loners, very solitary animals.. They werent paired, basically just tolerated each other.. Anyway, my female hermann didn't mind her enclosure but the male no matter what I did, how much stimulation, or realistic i made it he was not happy. Constantly climbing the walls, being destructive, & was just miserable, he wanted out. So I took him out & set up his lights to heat him while he was on the floor. He has made himself a "bed" to bask & a burrow beside the bed to sleep. He could not be happier.. His little personality has shined since then.
I bought another pair of hermanns that the same store again swore they had to be sold together bc they were "paired" & I encountered the same thing with this male. So in a completely different part of the house I did the same for him. Cant put 2 males together bc hermann males are extremely territorial & aggressive towards other males. They did happen to meet accidentally at one point. it was a bunch of bitting & ramming into each other smh. No one got hurt thank goodness. Ive been able to house multiple females but only one male in each area.
I also have 2 Russian torts who I set up cage free & now they're thriving as well. I have nothing against tortoise enclosures. If you can make it work, id recommend it. & If they work for you, great! But if you have a restless, destructive tort & you're at your witts end having tried everything, this is last resort type option. It has to be turtle friendly meaning clean floor, No other animals can get to them, No stairs, etc...
Like i said I am not interested in who thinks im wrong by doing this. I am curious if anyone else is doing this?
I started with 2 Hermann's torts. Male & female. The pet store claimed they were "paired" and would apparently die without the other if separated so i got them both. Thats extremely false btw. Tortoises are loners, very solitary animals.. They werent paired, basically just tolerated each other.. Anyway, my female hermann didn't mind her enclosure but the male no matter what I did, how much stimulation, or realistic i made it he was not happy. Constantly climbing the walls, being destructive, & was just miserable, he wanted out. So I took him out & set up his lights to heat him while he was on the floor. He has made himself a "bed" to bask & a burrow beside the bed to sleep. He could not be happier.. His little personality has shined since then.
I bought another pair of hermanns that the same store again swore they had to be sold together bc they were "paired" & I encountered the same thing with this male. So in a completely different part of the house I did the same for him. Cant put 2 males together bc hermann males are extremely territorial & aggressive towards other males. They did happen to meet accidentally at one point. it was a bunch of bitting & ramming into each other smh. No one got hurt thank goodness. Ive been able to house multiple females but only one male in each area.
I also have 2 Russian torts who I set up cage free & now they're thriving as well. I have nothing against tortoise enclosures. If you can make it work, id recommend it. & If they work for you, great! But if you have a restless, destructive tort & you're at your witts end having tried everything, this is last resort type option. It has to be turtle friendly meaning clean floor, No other animals can get to them, No stairs, etc...
Like i said I am not interested in who thinks im wrong by doing this. I am curious if anyone else is doing this?