Having a tortoise 'fixed'

[Nibs]

Hello all,

My two Sulcata's have recently decided to confirm to me that they are definitely both male and it got me thinking. Does anyone have recent experience of having their males 'fixed' as you could a dog, in order to prevent aggression between them as they got older (they are currently both three - a little young to normally sex I gather, but they have both started repeatedly to flash their manhood's)?

I keep them separately, but it would be easier if they were able to share a space sometimes and I do not want to breed them, so I would be interested if anyone has experience of this and would recommend it or not.

I have read through some old threads on this, and it seemed to be a sensitive subject but those threads were also from 2007/2008 and so I wondered if things had changed at all. Given some of the earlier thread comments on this, I just want to clarify that I won't consider it if it is a risk to the tortoises, I just don't know anything about this topic.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm not sure how much aggression is actually sexual, since females also fight. It seems to be ingrained the need to compete for food, etc.
And no, I've never heard of a tortoise being sterilized on purpose. And I'd bet it wouldn't have the wanted outcome any way.
It would likely be a waste of money and an unecessary risk for your tortoise.

 

[Yvonne G]

Even if you have one of them neutered, you still have an aggression/fighting problem. Tortoises are solitary creatures and they fight to protect their territory from interlopers.

 

[Nibs]

I'm not sure how much aggression is actually sexual, since females also fight. It seems to be ingrained the need to compete for food, etc.
And no, I've never heard of a tortoise being sterilized on purpose. And I'd bet it wouldn't have the wanted outcome any way.
It would likely be a waste of money and an unecessary risk for your tortoise.

Thanks Zeropilot

 

[Nibs]

Even if you have one of them neutered, you still have an aggression/fighting problem. Tortoises are solitary creatures and they fight to protect their territory from interlopers.

Thanks Yvonne - sounds like its not an idea to pursue. I had just wondered, after a friend had something similar done with one of her dogs to prevent aggression.

 

[BrianWI]

There is a thread about an implant in a restless tortoise to reduce testosterone. Basically chemical castration.

 

[Tom]

No harm in asking Nibs.

Castration might reduce some types of sexual aggression some of the time, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of tortoises living as a pair where one is dominant and the other wants to leave the dominant tort's territory but can't due to the constraints of the enclosure.

There is risk with any surgery. Even many humans die from "surgical complications". Happens with animals even more.

And by the way, as a professional dog trainer, I can tell you castration doesn't solve dog aggression issues either.

 

[Nibs]

No harm in asking Nibs.

Castration might reduce some types of sexual aggression some of the time, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of tortoises living as a pair where one is dominant and the other wants to leave the dominant tort's territory but can't due to the constraints of the enclosure.

There is risk with any surgery. Even many humans die from "surgical complications". Happens with animals even more.

And by the way, as a professional dog trainer, I can tell you castration doesn't solve dog aggression issues either.

Thanks Tom