New to torts

[ali88]

Hey, i have recently became the proud owner of two 6 year old hermann torts! A friend of my girlfriend was moving to oz but sadly he had failed to take care of even their basic needs! ( a small vivarium with no heat lamp or uv under the stairs fed every couple of days for six bloody years i ask?). One of them has been to the vets every two days for the past few weeks and is recovering from a respiratory infection while the other one seems a hardy one as he in fairly good health and much larger. He is very overbearing to the more frail one and i have had conflicting opinions from vets as to the actual sex of the smaller one.. i guess i would just like to know from some one else who has cared for these fascinating little creatures in a situation like mine! please advise if have as would be much appreciated
Alistair
U.k

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi ali88:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

 

[ali88]

my names alistair and the two torts are called bowser and b! from uk

 

[jaizei]

Welcome

 

[coreyc]

Hello and welcome to the TFO

 

[ascott]

Welcome to the Forum

"He is very overbearing to the more frail one"

Hmmm, with the environment you described and the above statement from you along with the size difference....I would say that there is likely bullying going on...and if you see the overbearing then likely there was lots more that you don't see.

You may want to split them up for awhile anyways, as you mentioned the weaker one is healing from RI....and that little one will likely do better with increased temps to stay steady at no lower than the 85ish and a hot spot of 95-100ish plus rest and as little stress will be very beneficial, also the two tortoise already know what sex one another is...even if you have a male/female pair, pairs are simply hard to have thrive together...it is just hard...IMHO

 

[AnthonyC]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[pdrobber]

welcome!

 

[Watermelon]

Hey Alistair where abouts in UK are you from?

I use a tortoise table for my two but as they get bigger I'll move them outside. Miniature green houses with cat flaps are great for them to live in or little sheds. This is a great website for weeds info! http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_home_1.asp It has been very helpful for me in the past. Perhaps when your torts have bigger enclosures and more space the bullying will stop.....There is a UK tortoise site which you might find a bit more handy than this for identifying plants. http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/forum/


Congrats on your new torts and sorry if I've been patronising and you already know what I've said. x

 

[tyler0912]

Im in Uk also...
Wher abouts are you....
Glad theyre in good hands...!

 

[jackrat]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[blafiriravt]

Hey there. Welcome to the forum Glad to hear they are being better taken care of.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome...

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

You need to separate them immediately. I would move the healthy one into a new enclosure and leave the other one where he is to reduce his already high stress level. Pairs seldom work out.

My hat is off to you for rescuing them from so many years of neglect and getting the one the treatment it so badly needed. Good luck.

 

[ali88]

heyguys sorry for late reply! I live in bournemouth! Nothing patronising at all, as am new to torts any advice is more than welcome and if anything i worry am doing wrong thing! The little one is coming along leaps and bounds, literally!! although the bigger one is still sniffing around quite a lot the smaller one is stronger now and seems to be able to move away from him! I have all the materials now to build the smaller one an enclosure entirely to herself which should be really good for her! i think the bigger one is doing it out of boredom or even he may be reaching sexual maturity?? I hoped to have them get along, it it likely they will have this relationship for ever? thanks for all the feedback

 

[ascott]

Happy to hear you are setting them up in their own enclosures...the sooner the better...seriously, bullying can prove to be 100% fatal...the bullying that you may observe is only a small part of what is actually going on....

Pairs are really really really hard to do...usually 1 male to 2 or 3 females is a happier set up....however, you have 2....they would not naturally get along in the wild as they would not be forced to remain in the same space, their territories would likely overlap one another so they would rarely come in contact with one another in the same fashion as captive tortoise are sometimes forced to do....

Good luck and hope you have them apart while you are setting up the new enclosure....