i have 3 russian torts. confused by threads ????

[aldo11]

i have had my big tort terry for 7 yrs now, i have also had walter kronkite for 4 yrs and my latest edition vlad putin for 1 year. now the first post i read when joining this forum was reasons not to keep russian torts together. now i have looked after these torts religously for yrs and as of yet have never had any problems. after reading the thread then researching further i still had some concern. but up until now the 3 of them have lived happily together and 75% of the time they have the run of the house. now i have seen how new members have been battered by criticism on here but i am not a novice in tortoise care and am curious as to why my 3 torts seem to be happy together ?

 

[Yvonne G]

You must be the exception that proves the rule.

 

[Tom]

No one says not to keep groups together. Its PAIRS that are typically a problem. Russians being the scrappy species they are sometimes don't get along in groups either. Many members here have stories of an over zealous male or big aggressive female that had to be separated from a group due to aggression. The key is that when ever you put more than one in an enclosure there might be problems and you might have to separate them. Having only a pair makes it very likely there will be a problem. Having a trio or more makes it less likely, but still possible.

Next subject: Running loose in the house is like russian roulette for tortoises. Its just a question of time until something bad happens. Just a couple of months ago we had a member accidentally kill her tortoise while it was out loose on the floor. My vet friends have talked to me and shown me dozens of cases of injured tortoises and x-rays showing all kinds of ingested foreign objects. Plus, its simply too cold down there. Tortoises belong in well designed, large, temperature controlled enclosures, not down on the floor of a human's living space.

 

[Tom]

And welcome to the forum. Did you come here to argue and tell us we are all wrong?

Constructive criticism is allowed, if not encouraged, but we don't allow or tolerate unkindness or "battering". We all want to help tortoises and if someone is engaging in an unsafe practice, like letting their tortoise run loose in the house, then we feel compelled to warn them of the danger that we have seen through years of experience. That is not battering. That is helping prevent another tragedy.

 

[aldo11]

when i said " run of the house " it was meant as tongue in cheek . i apologise if it was taken out of context. i was just genuinely concerned when i read post about keepin 2 or more russian torts together. as i previously mentioned i have had one for 7 yrs , added another 4 yrs ago and another 1 yr ago. in the summer the live in there outdoor enclosure which is 18feet x 6 feet and in the winter they live on their table and have an element of freedom in the house. i am just confused as to why they live so peacefully together ???? i am.certainly not an expert and am always looking to further my knowledge of my torts as they mean so much. surely my pic is an example of there health.

 

[WithLisa]

What is the sex ratio and are all of them sexually mature yet? That's when most of the problems start.

 

[aldo11]

terry is 7-8 yo female , walter kronkite is 4-5 yo female and vlad putin os 1 yo male. i am aware this may become an issue as vlad ages but honestly there have been no issues as of yet. i asked my brother if he would consider takin a tortoise commitment and he said yes. but there has never been an issue . they eat well, live well, look well, and act well , so i dont see why i need to seperate them right now.

 

[newCH]

Love the walter kronkite name, how did you come to choosing that as a name ? Was he Russian like Putin ?

 

[aldo11]

walter kronkite was taken from some comedy film with will ferrel sometime. apparently he was an american news reader but it suits the tort nicely lol.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Everyone is here to help. It might sound harsh, but for every new member with a new situation, even a relative newcomer like myself has heard it all before. I'm not sure that tortoise bullying is always something that can be easily observed. A bullied tortoise will be smaller and prone to getting ill. There may be no biting or ramming, etc. And yes. apparently you could be just fine. I have three Red Footed tortoises and they are kind of tolerant of other RF. However, I have five very large outdoor enclosures and I keep them separated most of the time. (It's what works for me.) Watch them and look for signs. Read posts and learn. In a short while, you'll be the one offering advice to someone else.

 

[marginatawhisperer]

Russians live on the steppe, With limited food, territory needs to be larger, and will be defended. Aggression is not uncommon in animals from arid areas,
steppe monitors, desert lynx, sulcatas etc.. Perhaps the need for a big territory is the reason sulcatas and russians are also very active , and burrowing in the cold nights.

 

[smarch]

I believe its possible they're able to get along and that all is going well now. Maybe that will change and they'll just out of the blue get territorial, one can never know with tortoises until it happens. But I will say that when the male grows up you probably will run into issues, once he discovers mating it'll become a nonstop thing for him, and in that case a lot of space for the females to go away from him would be good for them, as well as many plants and things acting as sight barriers so they can hide from them.
But I do think so far you've been lucky. While its not easy to spot bullying its not too hard to pick up on things that happen from bullying (one tortoise constantly hiding, one not eating too well...).

 

[johnsonnboswell]

walter kronkite was taken from some comedy film with will ferrel sometime. apparently he was an american news reader but it suits the tort nicely lol.

Some of us remember watching Walter Cronkite on tv. If you're naming for newscasters, add Huntley & Brinkley. Good night Chet. Goodnight Dave.

 

[Yvonne G]

Like Tom said, three or more together diminishes the aggression factor. And like Zeropilot said, you aren't always able to recognize bullying. The more dominant tortoise tells the less dominant tortoise to get out of the territory. This is a mental thing. Being locked into a small space, the less dominant tortoise isn't able to 'get out' so he just tries to stay out of the other tortoise's way. He'll hide in a corner, maybe stay away from the food dish, etc.

You are lucky you don't have a problem keeping them together. But be aware and watchful. I keep more than one tortoise per species together too, however, mine live outside all the time, and they have plenty of space to keep out of each other's way.

 

[aldo11]

thanks for all the advice. hopefully there will be no problems. but as yous have said it could happen all of a sudden. i hope not though.

 

[axeman25]

i have had my big tort terry for 7 yrs now, i have also had walter kronkite for 4 yrs and my latest edition vlad putin for 1 year. now the first post i read when joining this forum was reasons not to keep russian torts together. now i have looked after these torts religously for yrs and as of yet have never had any problems. after reading the thread then researching further i still had some concern. but up until now the 3 of them have lived happily together and 75% of the time they have the run of the house. now i have seen how new members have been battered by criticism on here but i am not a novice in tortoise care and am curious as to why my 3 torts seem to be happy together ?

Hello,
I am very new at this, like two and a half weeks new. I also have three Russians. A male and two female. I was told by their former owner that they had all been together since they were hatchlings (bought at seperate times within a few months) and they've "never had any issues or problems". I was taken aback by some of the comments at first when I Posted about having them in the same enclosure. I know your history is different that mine. about three days ago I separated one of the females from the other two. Since I got her she seemed kind of run down all the time. Not very active at all, hardly ate, and was always sleeping. I even contacted the previous owner and asked him about it. He said she'd always been like that. I guess the reason I set her aside is I was told more than once and in more than one way that sometimes the bullying is not physical and I was made aware of several signs of it. She fell into that catagory, so I decided to move her. Now, it's been three days and is she better? Nope, same as she was, but I'm going to keep an eye on her and see if she improves at all or if she just happens to be that kind of tortoise. They all slept right next to each other and I have a decent size enclosure with plenty of places to hide. I didn't see any signs of bullying at all but I just thought that I'd give it a try to see if it improves her quality of life at all. For all I know the bullying coulda started years ago and this is the effect. I'm not saying that any of that is going on with yours at all. Just giving you some background on my situation. I'm glad that your situation is working out great and I hope it continues to.

I've learned is that there is a TON of conflicting information around. I also know that most everyone on here are trying to help people like me out, but some have a much better.....Uhm......way of wording their comments. Lol. I felt beat up pretty good the first few days about everything from lighting to substrate and especially my decision to keep them in the same enclosure. I know this isn't any type of answer for ya, but I'm happy knowing there's other People in my situation. Best of luck!

 

[bigsteaks]

We have three Russians too. One female and two male. We have had some instances of bullying and now have separate areas for all. In our outdoor enclosure they have so much room they barely realize the others are there. Indoors w keep a strict eye on them and separate as needed. I think every tort is a different story though and each owner needs to be aware of their torts behaviors. We have separate feedings, soakings and bedtimes. I think that helps too.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have limited experiences with Russians. One however, is that while "baby sitting" my nephews Russian years ago, I made the mistake of placing him into an enclosure with my very large RF tortoises. The Russian was about 8". To my amazement, he very quickly started chasing the RF and ramming them and had them moving around like a sheep dog! (This was before I ever had a computer.) Very mobile and very fast.

 

[Jodie]

There are videos of Russians chasing cats and dogs too. That's why i wanted Russians, they are very outgoing and aggressive.