LOL...we have had this thread before ...the proper for redfoot tortoise....redfeet tortoise.....redfoot tortoises....redfoot tortie....LOL, kinda think it is like tomato vs tomatoe HAHAHAHAHAHA....
ascott said:Todd, what is your take on this....you would be a great source for an opinion here, IMHO that is
maggie3fan said:And one more thing...tortoises come in SPECIES not breeds...dogs come in breeds.
Tom said:I have seen people play "russian roulette" with their tortoises and get away with it. But, like in Maggie's case, I have also seen some tortoises and tortoise collections catch the proverbial "bullet" and die too. The Doc, who I respect greatly, makes some great points, but it is still very risky in my opinion to mix species. As a professional and diploma holding "Animal Behavior Management" specialist, I believe that mixing them is just as bad for behavioral reasons, as it is for parasite or disease reasons. They can endure and survive an awful lot, but that doesn't mean it is good for them.
Where are all the chameleon keepers out there? Come on. Explain how stress in reptiles works...
ascott said:I am confused ...what desert tort and what sulcata are we talking about???? sorry if I totally missed something here????
exoticsdr said:ascott said:Todd, what is your take on this....you would be a great source for an opinion here, IMHO that is
I think, in a perfect world, it is best to keep species separated in their own enclosures, but this is coming from a tortoise owner that has been guilty of species mixing for the last 18 or so years.
Would I want to mix several different species of wild caught animals? Heck No! Do I worry about mixing species of animals that are approximately the same size, outwardly healthy and captive bred from reputable sources and require the same treatment....No, not much.
This might just be me playing Devil's Advocate.
Of course, there are many variables to consider but it seems that everyone gets all concerned about cohabiting different species, but how many of us don't practice good biosecurity? How many of us wash our hands between enclosures or wear protective footwear and/or change footwear between large enclosures? How many of us have taken pictures of different species together, even though it was only for a moment just to show TFO members what we have? This may all seem very trivial, BUT if an animal truly has a contagious disease that it can pass to another species, that disease does not care whether or not it travels via a tortoises' nose or an unwashed hand or foot.
Just some food for thought.
Doc
ascott said:got your point ripper
Good, thought you were saying that the idea of a multi species yard was aok and that the issue of pathogens should be of little actual concern......
btw, if you do feel this way, it is completely your choice....I was just a bit shocked at the message in the way that "I" read it....
maggie3fan said:And one more thing...tortoises come in SPECIES not breeds...dogs come in breeds.
exoticsdr said:ascott said:Todd, what is your take on this....you would be a great source for an opinion here, IMHO that is
I think, in a perfect world, it is best to keep species separated in their own enclosures, but this is coming from a tortoise owner that has been guilty of species mixing for the last 18 or so years.
Would I want to mix several different species of wild caught animals? Heck No! Do I worry about mixing species of animals that are approximately the same size, outwardly healthy and captive bred from reputable sources and require the same treatment....No, not much.
This might just be me playing Devil's Advocate.
Of course, there are many variables to consider but it seems that everyone gets all concerned about cohabiting different species, but how many of us don't practice good biosecurity? How many of us wash our hands between enclosures or wear protective footwear and/or change footwear between large enclosures? How many of us have taken pictures of different species together, even though it was only for a moment just to show TFO members what we have? This may all seem very trivial, BUT if an animal truly has a contagious disease that it can pass to another species, that disease does not care whether or not it travels via a tortoises' nose or an unwashed hand or foot.
Just some food for thought.
Doc
ascott said:Ripper....I have never housed any two different species together in the same enclosure. I have not housed more than one tort in any one enclosure.
Since I have adopted the two redfoot torts I do wash my hands between handling them as well as my CDTs...Also they are no where near one another....when I soak the redfoots and dump their water out it is clear away from my CDTs as I would be sick..absolutely sick if anything I did caused any harm to the CDTs ...
.as well as I would not want to expose my little redfoot torts to any CDTs funk ... I do have two female RESs that have been together since they were purchased 2 for 5.00 downtown los angeles by a little girl and her mother on a shopping trip...they were given to my old boss who failed to do anything but toss em in a tank with water and a little tiny useless in tank filter...that was it...so when my old boss started putting dirty pond water in with them then craw dads just for fun to see what would happen....at that point I threw a fit...told him to stay away from them and I took over their care and they have been with me since...this is the only enclosure that I house more than one to a space and I am always on watch as they are getting older that they don't
begin to have any issues with one another...and if they should then they will be given
their own space...this is just the way I do things...ultra paranoid about the sensitivity to foreign funk that tortoise have......
maggie3fan said:Todd...I have only lived in Oregon for 5 years, before that I lived in California. Yvonne and I are sisters and I used to assist her at her tortoise rescue and my payment for that assistance was free turtles and tortoises. So I basically collected Gopherus agassizii and Sulcata. Yes, I changed my previous post quickly because I rethought it and decided it was kind of rude to a newbie. And even if I thought he was being a smart a** and relatively sarcastic I thought I could be the bigger person and changed my mind about what I said. So I may have been quick in post modification, you were quick in your reading. The desert tortoise was not stressed in anyway, I just knew someone was going to contest what I said as is happening a lot lately, so I decided why should I waste my time on someone I don't know and don't much care for and have to defend myself again. It's just not worth all the aggravation, so I deleted what I wrote and you saw it anyway and called me on it anyway so here I am having to defend myself... anyway. The desert tortoise got a parasite from the Sulcata. How do I know it was that way? I believed the Vet who told me the parasite had come from the Sulcata to the desert tortoise. I don't know why the vet decided it was that way. But that's what he said and that's what I remember about it. I was taught that you don't mix species but I did it anyway and that desert tortoise almost died. Since then I have gone back to those things I was taught and it seems like most of them are old fashioned now and I am called on stuff like this. Now that most of the tortoises that we get are captive bred it is probably alright to mix species. But I wouldn't do it, and from now on all I am going to say when asked is...that's what I was taught.
maggie3fan said:Todd...I have only lived in Oregon for 5 years, before that I lived in California. Yvonne and I are sisters and I used to assist her at her tortoise rescue and my payment for that assistance was free turtles and tortoises. So I basically collected Gopherus agassizii and Sulcata. Yes, I changed my previous post quickly because I rethought it and decided it was kind of rude to a newbie. And even if I thought he was being a smart a** and relatively sarcastic I thought I could be the bigger person and changed my mind about what I said. So I may have been quick in post modification, you were quick in your reading. The desert tortoise was not stressed in anyway, I just knew someone was going to contest what I said as is happening a lot lately, so I decided why should I waste my time on someone I don't know and don't much care for and have to defend myself again. It's just not worth all the aggravation, so I deleted what I wrote and you saw it anyway and called me on it anyway so here I am having to defend myself... anyway. The desert tortoise got a parasite from the Sulcata. How do I know it was that way? I believed the Vet who told me the parasite had come from the Sulcata to the desert tortoise. I don't know why the vet decided it was that way. But that's what he said and that's what I remember about it. I was taught that you don't mix species but I did it anyway and that desert tortoise almost died. Since then I have gone back to those things I was taught and it seems like most of them are old fashioned now and I am called on stuff like this. Now that most of the tortoises that we get are captive bred it is probably alright to mix species. But I wouldn't do it, and from now on all I am going to say when asked is...that's what I was taught.