Question about Hiberantion and Sex/Species

[xfollowthereaperx]

Hello. I have one Greek tortoise about one month old.

I was wondering if you HAVE to hibernate your tortoise? I did a quick search for a thread with the FAQs but no luck.

And I noticed a little nick in his beak, it looks almost as if s/he has a cut, I can't tell if it is food or a piece of his skin but something is pertruting from her/his face below her/his right eye.

He/she seems healthy because he/she hides from "danger" and moves quite quickly right now. I haven't let her/him out of the cage without watching so I have no idea how he/she would have gotten hurt.

This is a new picture of Brain Gorger, yes that is my tortoise's name.

An old picture for comparison

 

[egyptiandan]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum

No you don't have to hibernate your tortoise.

I'm not seeing any problems with his beak in the pictures, but maybe it's the angle.

Danny

 

[Crazy1]

Hello and welcome to you and Brain Gorger to the forum. Greek Torts beaks are not always smooth so what you are seeing could be completely natural. And Torts do shed. So what you are seeing under his eye may be some skin that is shedding just let it come off naturally do not pull it off. If the area you are seeing looks pink (raw) or really red then I might be a little concerned. I think h/she looks pretty good to me. And as Danny said you don't have to hibernate them.

I know you said you watch Brain Gorger closely if h/she is out of its enclosure but careful of the carpet (?) you have him/her on for those pics they will often take bites of new stuff and h/she could easily ingest some of those fibers, and they can't digest those.

H/she is pretty young to try and tell the sex but Danny is usually the wizz at the sub species.

 

[egyptiandan]

Usually Always hard to tell with hatchlings, but this one looks middle eastern. So not an ibera, most likely it's an Antakyan greek or an Antakyan/Golden cross.
Always easier to tell when you can see the parents.

Danny

 

[xfollowthereaperx]

Thanks for the comments, do you suggest I post pictures later, when s/he is more grown up, for a better identification? Or better detailed pictures? I really just want to know if Brainy is female or male.

I've read that guinea pigs aren't as happy when they're alone (they have no other Guinea Pigs to run around with) and become depressed. Is this true of tortoises?

How big is s/he expected to grow in the first six months? First year? I'm quite excited to see how large s/he grows. I'll post more pictures later, just want to make sure my little guy has a good life.

Thanks, I'll look out, my carpet is pretty gross too.

 

[Meg90]

No....tortoises do no become depressed. Depression is a human emotion, as well as longing, loneliness etc.

A lot of times, we attach human feelings to our pets, because it is in our nature to feel them. In the wild, tortoises are solitary animals, meeting only to mate, or fight.

Your baby would only see another tortoise as competition for food, basking spots, hiding spots etc. Another tortoise would just stress the baby. Also, you should quarantine any new animals for 6 months before letting them meet your existing animals.

 

[xfollowthereaperx]

No....tortoises do no become depressed. Depression is a human emotion, as well as longing, loneliness etc.

A lot of times, we attach human feelings to our pets, because it is in our nature to feel them. In the wild, tortoises are solitary animals, meeting only to mate, or fight.

Your baby would only see another tortoise as competition for food, basking spots, hiding spots etc. Another tortoise would just stress the baby. Also, you should quarantine any new animals for 6 months before letting them meet your existing animals.

Makes sense.

Sounds good, two tortoises is quite a lot of space for me anyways. Thanks!

I did a tiny bit of research and it seems that my tortoise looks like a female. Again I could be wrong since I'm not much of an expert but I only have 50% chance of being wrong.

 

[Meg90]

Also, the extra scutes usually mean that the egg was incubated at a higher temp, and higher temps usually (and I say usually, not always ) result in females...

(someone correct me if I am off base here)

 

[Crazy1]

I think she/he may need to grow some before Danny could tell its sex. Torts are solitary animals and do fine by themselves.
h/her growth may somewhat depend on the amount of food you give Brainy. Remember slow and steady is what you want. I have a Antakyan/Jordanian cross that is about 43 years old now and she is just over 7 inches.
If you do a search for the name Comet that is her offspring. I have basically set up his whole life from the day I found him in her pen and I do keep doing updates from time to time. I need to weigh and measure this weekend though. And Brainy's name suites a guy or girl
I'm looking forward to seeing a photo shoot of Brainy in the photo section.

 

[xfollowthereaperx]

As of now s/he is quite hard to take pictures of because of his/her need to explore everything and twiddle around. The size is also a problem. Anyways I've been feeding Brain Gorger twice a day with plenty of food, removing it about three-four hours.

Thanks for all the help.