Newbie here! Saying 'hello'!!!!

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chaz_rulez

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Hello All!

I have quite a story about my 2 year Sulcata Tortoise, Chaz. My ex and I bought Chaz and another tortoise, Tori (R.I.P) about a year and a half a go. We had a long distance relationship going and it didn't work out after I got into an accident. However, Tori passed away while I was living in Arizona. Tori got ill and we could not revive him. Chaz seemed depressed for awhile afterwards and one day when I find the gender of the little one I want to get another partner for him. Do people suggest that this to be a "good" idea or bad idea? I am not certain about temperaments of adult Sulcatas. I am considering perhaps not breeding, but not sure if same gender tortoises get along well together.

Chaz is still alive, but I fret he may not be growing at a "normal" pace. I have been reading the forum and people say the breed grows at different paces. S/He has a constant warm environment and grazes every day, gets plenty of nutrients. Chaz is larger than when I got him, but youtube videos show some Sulcatas much larger with pyramid shelling, though. He does not have this (thankfully). What is a "typical" or "average" growth rate? Does anyone have a link that supports behavior patterns and growth rates? Some people have told me that their Sulcatas were quite aggressive and I want to prevent this from happening as Chaz is an awesome sweet critter. Chaz knows it's name and comes when is called, which is adorable to watch so far. What makes the Sulcata get aggressive if this is true?

Also, since Chaz is about two years old now, when can I detect the gender and how is this done?

Thanks from Southern California!

Danielle and Chaz :)
 

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shanu303

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Hello and Welcome to TFO!! :) sorry to hear about Tori ....
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Danielle, and welcome to the Forum!

Temperament is individual to each tortoise. You may have one who remains sweet and people-loving all his life, and you may not. In my opinion, its not a good idea to get Chaz a room mate. They don't do well in pairs. In fact, tortoises don't need or want company. They are lone creatures, not coming together in groups or herds. If you introduce another tortoise into Chaz's territory he surely will try to chase the interloper out of his territory, and this may make his temperament change.
 

JoesMum

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Re: RE: Newbie here! Saying 'hello'!!!!

Yvonne G said:
Hi Danielle, and welcome to the Forum!

Temperament is individual to each tortoise. You may have one who remains sweet and people-loving all his life, and you may not. In my opinion, its not a good idea to get Chaz a room mate. They don't do well in pairs. In fact, tortoises don't need or want company. They are lone creatures, not coming together in groups or herds. If you introduce another tortoise into Chaz's territory he surely will try to chase the interloper out of his territory, and this may make his temperament change.

I agree with Yvonne.

Your tort is not one of the smaller species. Pretty soon your tort is going to need lots of space outside and will have the barging power of a small truck.

If you got a second tort, it would have to be kept entirely separately, in quarantine, for at least 6 months. This is prevent them from making each other sick.

As Yvonne said, they are loners. They roam big territories and do not get lonely or need, or want, company. Your tort will prbanly try to get the newcomer to keave his territory as quickly as possible... and they really do fight hard and nasty if they have to. Realistically, you are looking at having to keep them apart permanently and only introducing them to mate before separating again.

Yourvtort will be happier on his own,
 

EchoTheLeoTort

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Welcome. Don't get him a friend, he is just fine on his own. What a cute couple of torts you had, sorry about the first :( If you want help on sexing, take a picture of his bottom shell, showing the tail. We will do our best to tell you, although I'm not sure how old or what size sulcatas have to be in order to be certain. but show us anyway we might be able to help.
 

shanu303

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Hello Danielle and Welcome to TFO!! :)
 
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