Shipping a tortoise

[heather moister]

My husband and I have been planning the purchase of two Russian Tortoises for our daughters birthday for two months. We did tons of research (thank you forum), built two beautiful enclosures (one indoor and one outdoor), and contacted our reputable local exotic pet store to order is two female tortoises. Their birthday is in a week and the pet store just informed me they cannot get them. My question is... What is your opinion on purchasing them online and having them overnight shipped? I'm not crazy about purchasing two life-long pets without "meeting them" first or the idea of putting them in a box for a day. But maybe it's just me. Anyone have any experience "mail ordering" a tortoise? And if so what website did you order it from?

 

[wellington]

It's fine to,have them shipped. However, I would only recommend the active members of this forum. Check,out the for sale section, we may have some russians for sale. Also, two russians is not a great idea. They can not be sexed as hatchlings, so,you would have to get much older ones. If you insist on two, make two enclosures inside and two outside.

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum, and a....Happy Birthday to your daughter!

You'll get the help you need here.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Heather, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Russians are a combative and territorial species, they will bully each other, fight and maybe injure or kill when they can.
Two enclosures are necessary, i'm afraid.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...together-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.94114/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/bad-day-for-baby.114328/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/
will show you what we mean.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Heather, and welcome to the Forum! I second all that has been said above. Many people have put two russians together, only to learn the hard way that two Russians in the same habitat just won't work.

Now, if you plan to keep them outside in a VERY LARGE and well-planted habitat, you might get by with it. By 'large' I mean something along the lines of 20'x30' or bigger.

 

[Angel Carrion]

If you really want two of the same kind of tortoise and would have to have them sharing the same space but can't do something the size of what Yvonne suggests, have you thought about other torts? I hear redfoots are very tolerant of other redfoots. Though I would still suggest keeping an eye on them as they grow as, even while usually tolerant, that tolerance is usually reserved for three or more, where one is male and the other two are female, or three females, or two females. And again, while tolerance is usual, it is still possible that they could fight or one could bully the other to the point on sickness or death. So monitoring their interactions with each other would be necessary no matter what species you go with. But some species are known to be more tolerant of a member of their same species more so than others.
If I didn't make any sense, I apologize. My brain works weird