The start of a tortoise herd (and harmoniously living together)

TortLaw

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Colorado
I recently acquired two new babies to bring my herd to a total of three. They are all within a year of each other. Sheldon was born in May of 2013, Claire in February of 2014, and Cooper in May of 2014. I have had the two new torts for a few weeks now and wanted to share my experiences as so many people have shared their experiences and thoughts, both good and bad, on housing several tortoises together and tortoises of different sizes together.

First, with respect to quarantine, I did not, but only because all three torts came from the same reputable breeder. Had I acquired the new torts from any other source, I would have quarantined.

When the new torts arrived, I put all three of them together in a rubbermaid bin to soak and then to eat. My experience was that Sheldon, the oldest, seemed to exhibit a little bit of aggression with eating and some disregard with the others in trying to escape the bath by attempting to climb over the others. I was afraid that Sheldon's larger size would be a problem and that I would need to separate them, but I decided to try to see if it would work first.

I had built a brand new enclosure and put them all in there for the first time together after the new torts arrived. The enclosure is six feet long by two and a half feet tall and eighteen inches deep as well as being two stories. I watched them closely for several days to a week and did not seem to witness any aggressive behaviors or behaviors from the new torts that would signify submission or stress. They all tended to sleep together at first, and then they began exploring the enclosure individually and finding their own spots.

Enclosure.jpg

Since the initial hiccup of soaking and feeding, I decided to separate Sheldon from Claire and Cooper when soaking and eating, and I have decided to only feed them in their rubbermaid bins instead of putting any food in the enclosure. I keep the rubbermaid bins next to each other, however, so they can sort of see each other when soaking and eating and get used to each other. I only feed Sheldon every other day in order to slow his growth and ensure smooth shell growth now that s/he is bigger, and I'm still feeding the younger ones every day, so that they can sort of catch up to Sheldon's size.

Soaking.jpg

Eating.jpg

I know a lot of people have voiced concerns about housing several torts together or about housing torts of different sizes together, but it seems to be working out well for me currently. I think the reasons why are because they are all still young, the enclosure has plenty of room for them and lots of spots to get away from each other, I put them all in the new enclosure for the first time when they were together, I soak and feed them separately, and I do not feed them in the enclosure.

Of course, every tort has his/her own personality which you need to be aware of and respond accordingly, but I think if you are willing to put in the extra effort and expense, multiple torts can live together harmoniously, at least red foots. I think some people think of turtles or torts and think of fish tanks where people just put a whole bunch of fish together and think everything will be fine. My approach is to view my torts the same as my cats and dog. They all have their own needs, wants, and personalities. When I put the two cats together for the first time it was horrible for a month, but things improved with a lot of work and common sense on separating food and what not. In my opinion, torts just need to be seen as any other pet which require a lot of work and care. Please feel free to add any other comments for harmonious multiple tort living.
 

TortLaw

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5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
35
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado
Oh, and I forgot to add that I acquired two more instead of just one more tort, so that if there were aggression issues, the aggression would be spread out instead of one always being dominant and one always being submissive and stressed as recommended by so many on this forum.
 

leigti

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Nov 2, 2013
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southeast Washington
I like your enclosure. How did you make it? It sounds like you have put a lot of thought and effort into housing your tortoises together. I have a Russian tortoise and a box turtle so it will never happen :) but I have heard that red foots are one of the easiest tortoises to put in groups so you're lucky there. I will be very interested to hear the responses from more experienced people especially Redfoot owners. By the way I'm from Colorado, it is a great state.
 

kathyth

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Beaumont, CA.
Thanks for sharing this. At least yours are all quite young.
I love your enclosure! Very nice job!
 

allegraf

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Looks like you are off to a great star building your herd!
 

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