Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well here goes ..the woman I paid to get me a sulcata tortoise just called me to say her supplier no longer has the sulcata I paid $200 for...she has offered me 2 male russian torts for the same amt..they are 4 inches and eating well etc the prob is I have read that you canot have 2 males together is this true? and I have a hatchling russian (cute as a button) that I will be picking up tomarrow I plan on keeping the baby in a seperate enclosure until it is a little bigger then I'd like to put it in with these other 2 IF I get them I do not know what the sex of the baby is ..so is it possible to house 2 mles together w out a prob and if this baby one is male 3 males in one encloser? if the baby is female can I have 2 males and one female or will they fight? I need to know asap as she wants a answer now help!

I don't think anyone can provide an answer beyond: it depends.

I had one very mellow male russian. He didn't bother anyone. I've had another that would come charging at me. He is very aggressive (but doesn't cause injuries) to the females, and will injure other males.

So you have to be prepared to house them all separately. It may not work out. And the hatchling, if female, could cause two previously cooperative males to start fighting when she reaches maturity. And then she'd have to contend with two males constantly bothering her for mating. Not a good situation.

My best advice: if you can't provide separate housing for them, dont' take them all in. If the seller can't provide the animals you wanted, then only buy the animals you can accomodate. That way you don't end up in a bad situation with a lot of torts fighting with each other and no place to put them. And you still have that hingeback to deal with too, right?

good luck!

thank you ! yes I still have the hingeback He is a pain in the---
i SO dont recommend one!!! I do have the room to house them all seperatly iF I need to I had a whole room just for my sulcata I will just have to break it up so to speak, If they cant get along....prob a dumb ?? here BUT will it be obvious they are fighting? I mean how do I know they arent just bumping each other?

Fighting - they will do one or more of the following:

Raise up high on their legs, pull back, and ram into each other.

Bite at legs, face, eyes, necks, tails

Chase each other

Knock each other over

Bob head up and down while looking at another tortoise

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Examine your tortoises regularly. You may not see fighting but you might see signs of biting in the form of cuts or pulled-out scales. Or blood. Also if a tortoise is always hiding, or runs away from the other tortoises. Or refuses to eat. Signs of stress. They may not fight at all - one tortoise may just give up, hide, and hope the other guy goes away. So watch 'em.

now I am nervous lol ....is there a chance they will get along? they have been raised together since hatchlings so maybe? how old would a 4" be?

If you want to have all of those tortoises, you'll have to take them in and find out what happens. Maybe they'll be OK, maybe they won't. That's why I said you have to be prepared to keep them separately in case they don't get along.

At 4 inches males are getting close to showing signs of maturity. At least in the male hatchling I've raised. My favorite story on this involved leopard geckos and my naivete. I bought two leopards from a chain store. The clerk told me they were females. The way they curled up together at night made me think they were female. Then I introduced a real female. Next day: one bloody male gecko. They were males, and they were OK as long as it was just them. But a mature female brought out the hormones and something had to give.

So watch them and be prepared. Or only purchase the number of torts you can properly keep. There's nothing wrong with having only one tortoise at a time. It's much easier, they do just fine by themselves, they don't need companions, and you can give it all the attention it needs. Saves you money, and gives the tortoise the highest quality of care.

ok that helps,my problem is that I was stupid and paid for the sulcata up front now the petstore is telling me they dont have a sulcata and I can have these 2 russias or store credit towards whatever. I guess I can use the $ towards things for my other torts but I have def learned my lesson about paying up front for anyhing... the only up side is that I have heard through this site how much easier russians are compared to a sulcata.

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