Tortoise shakes head at other Russian

[AcidElvis]

I have to Russians in the same pen. I "liberated" from a local pet store together and the seem to get along. I can definitely tell there is a alpha male but I've never seen any sign of biting or aggression. He does every once and a while get close and seem to shake his head up and down quickly. Is this the aggression I'm missing?



UPDATE: After some more research it looks like this head bob is just a way of them to help breathing.

 

[stinax182]

separate them. i had the same thing happening. basically nothing more than staring contests and heavy breathing. but it eventually got worse, one eating the others food, one not coming out of his hide (over 2 years) and they're separate now. I'm glad i caught it before either got hurt because it will eventually coffee down to that.

i feel horrible now knowing they weren't happy and i forced them together, don't do the same. no matter the sexes, Russians just don't like each other much, haha.

 

[dmmj]

Head bobbing is a sign of territory and or aggression, leg pumping helps them breathe.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

They will also bob their heads upon recognizing another tortoise. I keep several male Russians together successfully. I have lots of "furniture" in their pen, and I think that really helps. (They also bob their heads during courtship.)

 

[lynnedit]

Kimber, I don't know how you do it. My male would attack another male tortoise even it it were 100#!

 

[shelloise]

Mine head bobs when I put food in her bowl and she comes over to investigate

 

[Kerryann]

Kimber, I don't know how you do it. My male would attack another male tortoise even it it were 100#!

Mine head bobbed and then attacked a tortoise statue I put in her cage. After she sniffed it and realized it was just a funny tortoise looking rock she stopped biting it. She definitely bit first and asked questions later though.. I would have never thought my little sweet Betty was aggressive until I saw her go all nutso on the statue.

 

[Tom]

You need to separate them. Here's a thread with a better explanation. In case you don't read the whole thread, the people who argue up front end up agreeing by the end.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-34837.html

 

[shelloise]

I had my 2 russians together for a couple of weeks with no issues. The previous owner had had together for 6 or 7 years without a problem. A while ago I noticed the girl would look at hit and sometimes she would open her mouth really wide and then it progressed to trying to bite him . This kept up so I ended up finding a wonderful home for him. So he is doing well and she is as well. I had really thought they would be fine but it turned out not so great for them.