Hello!

[1208jen]

Hi,
My name is Jenny and I am a newbie to this site and a new tortoise owner. I recently purchased 2 redfoot cherry head tortoises. Male and female(from different breeders). Both are about 9 months old, but the male is significantly smaller than the female?

Male "Red" is 3 inches and "Cherry" female" is 4- 4.5inches?

Cherry arrived with a really dry head. I have been spraying and soaking her and also using a humidifier.

They are eating, but don't seem to eat much. They are sleeping a lot. Is this common?

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Welcome! I hate to bring bad news but its too early to tell whether they are male or female yet. They also don't look anywhere near the same age. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get them? Also its very common for them to sleep the majority of their time.

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome

I'll start with the same message about gender. It is impossible to tell the gender of any tortoise without expensive scientific tests until they are 5-10 years old ... and even then laying eggs or flashing (seeing a penis) is a better indicator. They can be bred to be a specific gender by careful use of incubation temperatures, but it is not foolproof by any means.

Tortoises are solitary creatures in the wild generally and do not always cohabit nicely regardless of gender. They see another tortoise as competition for food and habitat and their 'chatting up' techniques if they're feeling horny can only be described as aggressive. The ensuing fights can lead to blood being drawn and intimidation by the dominant tort frequently leads to decline or illness in the subordinate tortoise. They do not need or seek out company apart from mating. You must be prepared to separate them into two enclosures promptly if this happens and it will probably have to be permanent.

Tortoises are reptiles and they shed skin like snakes... except snakes do it all in one go and look smart afterwards. Tortoises do it in bits and pieces and look pretty tatty at times... if not all the time. There is little you can do about it except let the old skin rub off naturally. As long as the skin underneath is not sore there is little to worry about.

May I suggest you read Tom's Beginner Mistakes Thread which contains some excellent advice.

New tortoises take time to settle in and behave normally. in fact they are the world's worst at coping with change. it may take weeks for your torts to behave and eat properly. You can help them to realise that you are a good guy by establishing a routine so that they know what to expect when and thus reduce stress.

I suggest the day starts out with something like lights on, heat on, soak, feed...

Some torts love baths, some hate them. My soaking tips are:
1. Soak first thing before your tort has warmed up properly to reduce escape attempts.
2. Use a high sided bowl or box so your tort can't see out
3. Use enough warm (not hot) water to just come over your tort's plastron (undershell). Get the temperature right and your not-warmed-up tort is more likely to lounge and absorb the heat.
4. Soak for a good 20 minutes. Don't worry if you don't see him drink; torts can absorb water through the skin. The length of soak is important.
5. Your tort may wee and/or poop in the water - it's more likely to concern you than him. You can change the water if it's truly disgusting. Don't worry if your tort eats his poop; it's said to improve gut flora!
6. Feed straight after the soak. Joe is always hungriest straight after his.

 

[cemmons12]

Welcome to the forum. And yeah it will be a while before u will know if they r male or female. Best of luck to you and the torts!

 

[Oogway]

cant help, but welcome to the forum!

 

[wellington]

WELCOME Ditto with all the great help and advice already given here. Congrats on your new torts.

 

[Cadance]

Welcome!

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. Congrats on the two new babies.

 

[ada caro]

Welcome, nice torts.

 

[1208jen]

Thanks for you replies. Both Torts were temperature sexed during incubation. The female was incubated at 86 degrees and the male at 82 degrees. I do understand that that's not fool proof. The female will be a year old on May 15th and the male was born sometime last summer, but breeder isn't sure when. The breeders are Vicki Hale and Ron from Leopardgeco.com. I was very happy with both of the breeders. The tortoises seem to be getting along fine with each other so I'm going to leave them together for now. I have been soaking them and the little guy loves it and I have found him soaking himself in his water bowl. i'm not sure why there is such a size difference do tortoises sometimes grow at very different rates?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jenny:

Welcome to the Tortoise forum!!

May we know appx. where in the world you are?

I don't know anything about Ron, but I've heard very good praise about Vicki.

Just be sure to keep them in a humid environment.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[jvaldes55]

Welcome to the forum! Very cute torts

 

[Jacob]

Congrats, welcome to the forum!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Cool pics!!

 

[pam]

Welcome