separated Russians

Status
Not open for further replies.

stinax182

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
838
Location (City and/or State)
Springfield, Massachusetts
so my 2 Russian tortoises lived in this 5f-4f enclosure. recently they have started being aggressive towards each other so I've separated them.

the only option i have is to split the cage they already live in, in half. i only have 1 bedroom to spare and with my leopard tortoise, chameleon, rabbit and 30g fish tank, I've used up my room loll.

so they each have a basking spot, shoe box hide, access to the top of their hide and water dishes (i am missing 1 for now) i will start growing their seed mix on top of their hides soon. and i will add another hide in the cooler area.

basking temp: 96
ambient temp: 75
hide box temp: 83
humidity: 64%


night ambient temp: 66
hide box night temp: 79
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20121203_144233_637.jpg
    IMG_20121203_144233_637.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 107
  • IMG_20121203_144238_324.jpg
    IMG_20121203_144238_324.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 77
  • IMG_20121203_144243_823.jpg
    IMG_20121203_144243_823.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 79

Levi the Leopard

IXOYE
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Messages
7,958
Location (City and/or State)
Southern Oregon
bummer they cant share their space anymore but good thing you noticed and did something about it.

can i ask for some details?
what sexes are your russians?
how long have they been housed together?
how long have you had them? were they acquired together or separately?

i am looking into getting 1 or more russians so these are questions that can help me. thanks
 

stinax182

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
838
Location (City and/or State)
Springfield, Massachusetts
they are both males, one is 5" and the other is 6".
i received them together and they have been housed together their whole lives, the previous owner believed one was a female.
I've had them for 3 years and I've kept them together. I've slowly upgraded their enclosure and it seemed the better the enclosure and more space they had, the more distant they got. I've never noticed anything other than both of them mounting each other occasionally. i fed them separately so they never suffered that way. but one day, the smaller one would keep leave his fat bowl of greens just to eat the other ones. i knew this was a sign because he had never bothered before. recently I've seen them both with mouths wide at each other and that was that lol.

i basically rescued them so i didn't have time to research it or i would have separated them from the beginning. now i know better, thankfully before either of them were hurt.

it's my understanding that if you want more than one Russian, you must get at least 3, 2 female, 1 male. or possibly 3 females of the same size if you didn't want to breed. they do fine alone and i do love their personalities, they're sweet and grow accustomed to you quickly.
 

lynnedit

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
5,730
Location (City and/or State)
Southwest Washington
Good summary!

I think if you have an inside table, even if it is on the large side, it is possible that a male would have to be separated from females, even if the ratio was 1:3. (not true in all cases, sometimes it is a female who is aggressive, and sometimes groups do OK inside). My male and even one female would be relentless...
Outside could be different, because there would hopefully be a lot more room; sight blocks, hides, plants, etc.
 

jtrux

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
1,069
Location (City and/or State)
San Antonio, TX
Looks good to me. The Leopard is the one that concerns me , what are you gonna do when he/she gets bigger?
 

stinax182

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
838
Location (City and/or State)
Springfield, Massachusetts
jtrux said:
Looks good to me. The Leopard is the one that concerns me , what are you gonna do when he/she gets bigger?

well they each have a large space in my yard to themselves which i am fixing up for them to live outside all summer. so these houses are temporary.
i also have someone who is interested in my Russians but does not have the space right now. so hopefully by the time the leopard is bigger, they will have new homes.
if not, I'm moving soon and will be looking for a place that has room for my pets :)

the next enclosure got the leopard will be 8'-6'!
 

stinax182

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
838
Location (City and/or State)
Springfield, Massachusetts
OH and speaking of these 2...this happened recently and the only border i had laying around long enough to split the enclosure in half was some extra cork flooring (really thick cardboard basically)

well this morning when i wake up and check on everyone, i find 2 tortoises in 1 enclosure!! the smaller one had dug a hole straight through the wall and was basking with the larger one! they didn't seem aggressive but I'm still keeping them separated. tomorrow i will buy a piece of plywood.

it's weird because the wall is tall enough that neither can ever see each other...i don't know how he even knew there was another side to the cage! the temp wall is buried under probably 5-6 " of dirt!

either he's extremely territorial or misses him haha. I'm definitely leaning towards extremely territorial /:
 

WillTort2

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
1,250
You may be able to center one light over the dividing wall and save on your electric. I think I've seen this done on this site by one of the experienced members. Might have to put metal on top of divider to prevent fire risk.
 

stinax182

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
838
Location (City and/or State)
Springfield, Massachusetts
WillTortoise said:
You may be able to center one light over the dividing wall and save on your electric. I think I've seen this done on this site by one of the experienced members. Might have to put metal on top of divider to prevent fire risk.

that's not a bad idea! i would probably have to get a larger some though. i will look into it, thank you!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top