hello, I have two tortoises both I believe to be girls and I have had them for 5 years. However one of the tortoises dominates the other and has been attacking the other tortoise, sometimes taking always it's scales and drawing blood. It has got more concerning as they are behaving like this in their indoor inclosure which hasn't occured before, only when they were outside. The dominating one has also been trying to hump the little one which I am confused about, thinking they were two girls! Please help me because I am very concerned. Thank you!
Tortoises attacking eachother
- Thread starter Isabel c
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What kind of torts are they pics of the torts and their enclosure would be helpful . But torts don't do well in pairs , they are loners , but most will do ok in trios .
This is bullying plain & simple you're going to have to separate forever. tortoises are loners and just don't like company. another tortoise is something to fight with mate with or both, even females
Greetings and welcome to the Forum. I'm sure lots of folks with Russian torts will chime in, but here are a few observations. Enclosure is far too small, you shouldn't keep two together at all let alone in such a small container, substrate looks far too dry, water container should be level so torts crawl down into, not up inside. Need more plants, hides and variety inside.
First and foremost though, you need to separate the two and this will stop the aggressive behavior. If you don't, the dominant one will eventually kill the subservient one.
There's lots of info here on the Forum about torts being solitary reptiles that don't need or want company.
Welcome!
First and foremost though, you need to separate the two and this will stop the aggressive behavior. If you don't, the dominant one will eventually kill the subservient one.
There's lots of info here on the Forum about torts being solitary reptiles that don't need or want company.
Welcome!
Totally agree, except they are Russians which are one of the scrappiest torts and really should not be kept in pairs or in such small enclosures. Separate ASAP before the one being bully gets sick or dies.
Please read the care sheets under the Russian section.
Small enclosure, coupled with aggressive, scrappy tort is unfortunate recipe for disaster.
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For starters, just get another similar bin, and water dish, substrate and a hide. You will quickly see the difference.
Good luck!
Agree with the above. You need a 2nd enclosure set up asap.
Hi Isabel, and welcome to the Forum!
I'm pretty sure you don't have two females. Russian tortoise males don't have a concave plastron, it's flat just like the females. You can tell by the tail. Males have pretty big, fat tails.
Those guinea pig cages are not big enough for one Russian tortoise, let alone two. Some people buy a used book case, remove the shelves and line it with plastic. The bigger the better. But one enclosure for each tortoise. Either that or re-home one of them.
I'm pretty sure you don't have two females. Russian tortoise males don't have a concave plastron, it's flat just like the females. You can tell by the tail. Males have pretty big, fat tails.
Those guinea pig cages are not big enough for one Russian tortoise, let alone two. Some people buy a used book case, remove the shelves and line it with plastic. The bigger the better. But one enclosure for each tortoise. Either that or re-home one of them.
