Housing Male Russian Tortoise with Female Eastern Box

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Hi everyone....first post here. I have a female Eastern Box Turtle very healthy that I have owned for several years. She is properly housed in a large outdoor enclosure and gets plenty of love and proper food. I'd love to add a Russian Tortoise to the enclosure but am not sure how they'd get along. Would a male Russian be as bothersome to her as a male Eastern? She has laid eggs for 3 years running now presumably from a male Eastern she was formerly housed with. If I add a male Russian, would they mate and would she conceive? Thanks very much in advance.
 

wellington

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Species should never be mixed. The Russian will probably kill the Box. Also they should never be kept in pairs, specially a russian. Mixing species and keeping pairs is bad all the way around.
 

TechnoCheese

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I second Wellington. If you really want a tortoise, create a second enclosure.
 

Tom

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In addition to the points already made, most adult russians in this country are imports and are notorious for all sorts of diseases.

Please do not mix species. Especially not these two species.
 

LoutheRussian

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Thanks everyone, some really good points were made against housing these two species together so I will create a second enclosure and keep them separate. Thanks so much.

I just wanted to say thank you for accepting the informative answers you received and decided to follow their advice. I’m sure that you would have loved to have been told go for it and housed them together but when you were given reasons not to you didn’t get angry and defensive. You didn’t give them the finger, so to speak, and do what you wanted to regardless. So often I see members post their first questions and get answers they don’t want to hear then get upset and completely disregard the advice given by those who have experience and knowledge. I realize that this is getting long winded so I’ll wrap it up and say good on you.
 

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