Another tortoise?+new tortoise owner tips

TeamZissou

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Is it a 100% that they will fight it bully each other?

Yes, raising them together is not a solution. It begins from a young age. The only way to mitigate it without separating them is to have an enormous enclosure such that they would not see each other for days and weeks similar to how it would be in nature. Most people cannot provide this.
 

Cynthia Whitehead

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
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Powder Springs
hello everyone! I hope you are having a good day! So recently about 2-3 weeks ago I adopted a female Hermann tortoise named Sophie from a breeder close by. I originally had built a very large outdoor encloser for her becuse I new I wanted to have more than 1 tortoise I wanted to eventually have about 2-3 Hermann tortoises maybe a few years after I got Sophie. Well when I was looking to get a Hermann tortoise it took quite a while to find a female Hermann tortoise. The breeder where I got Sophie from contacted me yesterday saying he had one more female Hermann tortoise for adoption and it was taking quit a while to sell her becuse nobody was interested. He had heard that I was going to get more Hermann to tortoise soon so he asked me if I was interested in adopting her He said that if I was interested that he would drop her off on Saturday the 17th which is about a week away from now. I told him I would think about it. I have really adored Sophie and absolutely love her!? and I do trust him and his tortoise are very healthy But I just wasn't expecting to get another one so soon! Can you give me your opinion and advice? And any tips for a new tortoise owner? Thanks so much!?
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Lovethetorts!

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Los Angeles california
I will keep you guys updated. I might have to built a separate encloser or would it work if I gave them a super big encloser would that stop the bullying? Becuse if so I know just the place in my yard.
 
Joined
Mar 25, 2021
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Cloud Atlas, North Carolina
I'm going to preface this post by stating that torts and turtles are different in many, many ways but having them in pairs yields the same outcome.

Less than a month ago I joined after getting 2 wood turtles, 'brothers'. After my first post on here it was advised to separate them and not feed them together. I had to rehome one of my turtles due to aggressive behavior and I'll post about that in the respective forum very soon. The short of it is this, I'm really happy I had the sense to immediately take the advice of people on here without questions, challenge or debate.

I could do two enclosures, no problem but separating them socially ALL THE TIME just wasn't feasible for me. Think of it like this. You and your partner have twins but you have to live next door to each other, not together. You can take trips, you drive with 1 twin your partner drives with the other. You can go out to eat, you sit at a table with 1 twin, your partner sits at a different table with the other. You go on vacation, you take 1 twin on a flight, your partner and the other twin book the next flight. When its time for school, you enroll each twin at 2 different schools in different towns.

Such is the life of having a pair or turtles. Do what you will.
 

Lovethetorts!

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Los Angeles california
Hello guys, I hope you are having a good day! I have a huge update so I talked to the guy that gave me Sophie about me getting another tortoise from him and if they will bully each other etc. And he said it was definitely possible however when he owned Sophie she lived with another male tortoise as a pair she did not live in a group of tortoises. She lived with that male tortoise since she hatched 2 years ago and they never had any problems together and he said that he still had that male Hermann tortoise! And that if I was looking to add another tortoise with Sophie then the male tortoise would be the best option. So I said yes! He just dropped off the male tortoise and he said he was looking to rehome that male tortoise anyway so he gave me the male tortoise for free again! I couldn't believe it! So basically I got a mated tortoise pair for free!

Well so far there has been zero bullying at all they don't even seem to see each other! I am super excited to have another tortoise!

I attached some pictures of the two tortoises. (the tortoise in the corner is the new male tortoise and the tortoise on top of the house is Sophie) sorry it won't let me upload a video.
 

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Yvonne G

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I believe we told you what we think on the first two pages of this thread: tortoises are NOT herd type animals. They don't live together in their natural environment. Eventually you are going to see one of them going downhill.
 

Lovethetorts!

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Feb 27, 2021
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Los Angeles california
Well I am thinking of seriously expanding the tortoises outdoor encloser by like 20 feet! So they will have like half the yard to themselves. And they will get so much sunlight. Also I Don't mean to be rude or anything but what makes you so sure they will fight and bully each other? I mean you cant tell the future. They wont always fight.
 
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