Intoducing new tortoises

[pyxigirl]

Hi. I have a 6 year old female RFT that I have had since she was a baby (her name is Oogway). She has always lived alone in her large custom enclosure, the enclosure is about 5 ft by 4ft in size.
Three months ago I adopted another female RFT (named Peach) she is 3 years old and considerably smaller then my older female. I have kept them separate for the last few months as a quarantine period. I recently moved Peach into Oogways enclosure, I made sure there is lots of hiding places for them. Oogway first followed Peach around acting very curious, then she turned around so her rear end was facing Peach and she swung her rear end back and forth bumping into Peach. Then somewhat later Oogway tucked her head into her shell and charged at Peach, ramming right into her and continued to push Peach as hard as she could. I read that males sometimes act this way when they want to mate but Oogway is definitely a female, as is Peach, so I assume this is aggression. So I put a board as a divider into the enclosure for now, but its not great because it gives them each a very small area instead of sharing the whole enclosure. I realize it might take time for them to get used to each other..I am just wondering what is the best way to do this? any suggestions would be great

 

[IggyBeans]

I would house them seperately. In the picture, one has the warm side and the other has the cool. But thats just my opinion. Do you have room.for a seperate enclosure?

 

[pyxigirl]

Hi, actually the left side has a halogen heat lamp, and the right side has a ceramic heat lamp and a UVB light, so both sides have a warm area but only the right hand side has UVB light at the moment (I am planning on adding a long UVB light that runs across the whole enclosure). I know they cant live like this for long term though, as the half-enclosure areas are much too small. If they cant get along I am going to sell this enclosure and design and two-level enclosure, one tortoise on the bottom floor and one on the top floor, that way I can save on space in my house. I hope they can get along though.. at the Zoo near my house they have 4 redfoot tortoises all living together happily in their indoor enclosure.

 

[IggyBeans]

Oh alright, I wasnt able to tell from the picture. If i saw aggression, i would house seperate but i dont have that breed. Hopefully someone will come along soon

 

[wellington]

They will have to be house separately. Tortoises are loners anyway. In order to keep them together, you will need a very large area, too large for a table and lots of site barriers and separate huts and food areas. Then it might not work. Best to keep in threes then pairs, but again in a very large, like outside area.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi pyxigirl:

Welcome to the Forum!!

Redfooted tortoises are the exception to the rule, that is, they normally get along quite well in groups.

My thinking is that these two would also get along if they were introduced in a brand new enclosure. As it is, you've put an interloper into Oogway's area. She will not stand for that. But if you make a new habitat, a territory that hasn't been claimed by either tortoise, it should work out ok. But your new habitat should be a bit bigger than the existing one. 5'x4' sounds big enough, however, what you have pictured doesn't look that big to me. Oogway's habitat is fine for one tortoise, but needs to be bigger for two.

 

[pyxigirl]

Thanks for the replies. That makes sense that Oogway wont give up her territory. I think we will turn Oogway`s enclosure into a 2 level so Ogway can have the lower floor and Peach will be on the top floor. I will just have to change the front design of the enclosure and add more lighting to the top floor. My husband corrected me, The enclosure is 5 ft long by 3 ft.. not 5 X 4. I`ll add a photo of when we were building it, gives a better idea of size
Thanks...

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Thanks for the replies. That makes sense that Oogway wont give up her territory. I think we will turn Oogway`s enclosure into a 2 level so Ogway can have the lower floor and Peach will be on the top floor. I will just have to change the front design of the enclosure and add more lighting to the top floor.[/b] My husband corrected me, The enclosure is 5 ft long by 3 ft.. not 5 X 4. I`ll add a photo of when we were building it, gives a better idea of size
Thanks...

Good plan!

 

[sibi]

I agree with Yvonne. If you want them to be together, then a new enclosure is the way to go. But, if you are just going to build a double level enclosure anyway, then that may work best. Welcome to the forum!