Are my tortoises normal size?

[BabyTortoises]

Hello! I have two horsfield tortoises who are 3. I got them last year from a pet shop, and Turbo (the light shell one) has always been a lot bigger. He is a healthy boy but Flash (the darker shell) has always been tiny. Flash has always been funny with food and hated to eat! This year flash got an eye infection and has been fighting it since May (he is still ongoing treatment) with the eye infection he has started to eat a lot more. He went a little while without putting weight on but now has put weight on! I’m just worried that Turbo is too big or Flash is too small.

Also Flash and Turbo have always lived together (or the most part of their lives) They were together at the pet shop and then I got them last year and they have always been together in my care. Turbo has started to bite flash’s front leg and Turbo does like to show his d*ck throughout the day. Is this normal behaviour? Or do I have to house them separately?

The photo I have attached is the only recent photo of them and you can kinda see the size difference.

 

[Minority2]

Hello! I have two horsfield tortoises who are 3. I got them last year from a pet shop, and Turbo (the light shell one) has always been a lot bigger. He is a healthy boy but Flash (the darker shell) has always been tiny. Flash has always been funny with food and hated to eat! This year flash got an eye infection and has been fighting it since May (he is still ongoing treatment) with the eye infection he has started to eat a lot more. He went a little while without putting weight on but now has put weight on! I’m just worried that Turbo is too big or Flash is too small.

Also Flash and Turbo have always lived together (or the most part of their lives) They were together at the pet shop and then I got them last year and they have always been together in my care. Turbo has started to bite flash’s front leg and Turbo does like to show his d*ck throughout the day. Is this normal behaviour? Or do I have to house them separately?

The photo I have attached is the only recent photo of them and you can kinda see the size difference.

Separate them permanently.

 

[Tom]

Hello! I have two horsfield tortoises who are 3. I got them last year from a pet shop, and Turbo (the light shell one) has always been a lot bigger. He is a healthy boy but Flash (the darker shell) has always been tiny. Flash has always been funny with food and hated to eat! This year flash got an eye infection and has been fighting it since May (he is still ongoing treatment) with the eye infection he has started to eat a lot more. He went a little while without putting weight on but now has put weight on! I’m just worried that Turbo is too big or Flash is too small.

Also Flash and Turbo have always lived together (or the most part of their lives) They were together at the pet shop and then I got them last year and they have always been together in my care. Turbo has started to bite flash’s front leg and Turbo does like to show his d*ck throughout the day. Is this normal behaviour? Or do I have to house them separately?

The photo I have attached is the only recent photo of them and you can kinda see the size difference.

Tortoises should NEVER be housed in pairs. They need to be separated ASAP. The eye infection was likely due to injury inflcted by the cage mate. The stress of living as a pair is hampering appetite, growth and healing. Groups of babies can sometimes work, but never pairs, never different sizes, never Russian tortoises, and certainly never when you are already seeing overt aggression.

They are also both pyramiding, which is an indication that they are being housed too dry.

Here is the current and correct care info:

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

 

[BabyTortoises]

Tortoises should NEVER be housed in pairs. They need to be separated ASAP. The eye infection was likely due to injury inflcted by the cage mate. The stress of living as a pair is hampering appetite, growth and healing. Groups of babies can sometimes work, but never pairs, never different sizes, never Russian tortoises, and certainly never when you are already seeing overt aggression.

They are also both pyramiding, which is an indication that they are being housed too dry.

Here is the current and correct care info:

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

The eye infection is a abscess behind the eye, the vet says that it wasn’t caused by the other tortoise.

Their shells have always looked like that as the pet shop they are from wasn’t the best and didn’t know how to look after them. I’ll have a read over what you attached and make sure everything is correct. The vet has never said anything about them being housed together as they rarely see each other, ones normally awake and the other one is asleep and then opposites. Also it’s only been this past week that turbo has been like this. They normally always want to sleep together and when they do see each other they are fine with each other. I’m assuming it’s because they are growing now. I will house them separately though.

 

[Golden Greek Tortoise 567]

The eye infection is a abscess behind the eye, the vet says that it wasn’t caused by the other tortoise.

Their shells have always looked like that as the pet shop they are from wasn’t the best and didn’t know how to look after them. I’ll have a read over what you attached and make sure everything is correct. The vet has never said anything about them being housed together as they rarely see each other, ones normally awake and the other one is asleep and then opposites. Also it’s only been this past week that turbo has been like this. They normally always want to sleep together and when they do see each other they are fine with each other. I’m assuming it’s because they are growing now. I will house them separately though.

Sleeping together is crowding, following is chasing, and eating together is taking charge of the best food. What we mistake for affection is mostly bullying.

 

[BabyTortoises]

Sleeping together is crowding, following is chasing, and eating together is taking charge of the best food. What we mistake for affection is mostly bullying.

they don’t eat together, as I’ve always made sure they have enough food for themselves. They don’t sleep together anymore as they just go to sleep in different huts. Sleeping together was only in the beginning and they never follow each other

 

[Golden Greek Tortoise 567]

they don’t eat together, as I’ve always made sure they have enough food for themselves. They don’t sleep together anymore as they just go to sleep in different huts. Sleeping together was only in the beginning and they never follow each other

If Turbo has been biting the other one, then I would still seperate them. Russians never do well in pairs, they are scrappy monsters. ?

 

[Minority2]

they don’t eat together, as I’ve always made sure they have enough food for themselves. They don’t sleep together anymore as they just go to sleep in different huts. Sleeping together was only in the beginning and they never follow each other

@Golden Greek Tortoise 567 is trying to describe what typical tortoises owners view as playful to their eyes, in reality, is really the tortoise's way of displaying dominance over one another.

In the wild, very few tortoises breeds actually work well with another of it's kind. Tortoises hatch alone. They travel alone. And they live alone because it's hard enough to find a safe enough shelter and food source in the wild without another tortoise trying to crowd up their space. This is why many people don't see a lot of tortoise breeds in groups when in their wild environments.

Horsefields/Russians in particular can be very aggressive when protecting their own territory. They're one of the meaner bullies in the tortoise world, male or female. Reasons for why a single tortoise from a pair, regardless of sex, is always thriving while the other is not has to do with the dominant one bullying the other into submission. Just because you didn't witness these signs doesn't mean it's not occurring.

 

[BabyTortoises]

If Turbo has been biting the other one, then I would still seperate them. Russians never do well in pairs, they are scrappy monsters. ?

That is my plan! They did do great at the beginning, now turbo is a bully unfortunately.