Trying to seperate my male and female, he's being MEAN!

[gerberwoman]

my male is being really aggressive today to his mate of 30 plus years, he's actually nailed her in the nose! i am seperating them right now with pots/lawn chairs, etc and she is glad, she's gone for an afternoon nap in the igloo, he's pacing around trying to figure out how to get to her side of the enclosure.
what should i do?
im new to trots and abviously she has been dealing with him for a long time, but if i want to give her a break, how could i quickly make a barrier that would work, stretching from a wooden fence on one side, to the stucco of the house on the other?

 

[reticguy76]

Personally, I think the ideal action should be two separated enclosures like with some distance between them. I would keep them separated permanently unless you are breeding them. The prefer to be alone ( at least I have found that out )

 

[gerberwoman]

never mind, all, i figured it out.
these two have been living together for at least 30 years and maybe a lot more, between the two of them, and me as mediator it's going to be fine!

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

Not sure if you read or heard of the story, but there was a pair of giant tortoises in a zoo that have been together for 100+ years that needed to be split up because the female started to gnaw on the male's shell.

Even after decades, you can't assume a pair of tort's will be happy together. But, once they start the bullying/fighting, it's not likely going to stop. You should seriously consider seperating them permanently, before your male does serious damage to the female while you are away and unable to mediate.

 

[gerberwoman]

i will discuss this with my local cttc person right away.

 

[dmmj]

He's not being mean, he is being a male tortoise. If you have the ability you can always use cinder blocks to separate them.

 

[gerberwoman]

yep, and now he's back to being a gentleman. i will get cinderblocks for those times when he's being, as we lebowski-ists say, 'un-dude'.