Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is Achilles eating. I hate to play favorites, but he is my favortie Russian.

Meant to say I am new to digital cameras, may be why he looks so weird, I think some things were reflecting off the glass...

Why are you mixing tortoise species? You should always quarantine them before introducing to your each other. You don't know what it may or may not have. I'm sure that the habitat requirements for them are quite different too.
Xavier

What a person does with their pet is their business. I'm hoping this person does understand the huge risk that goes along with this particular combination.
Both of these species are at each end of the spectrum care wise. The Russian (Testudo (or Agrionemys if you prefer)horsfieldi comes from a dry, arid, Stepp habitat typified by dry rock/sandy, sparcely vegitated areas. It feeds on broad leaf weeds for the most part.
The Forest Hingeback (Kinixys homeana)(in most probability in this case) comes from a humid to wet forest environment. It is an opportunistic feeder going for what ever it can find in leaf litter and such including bugs which seem to make up most of its diet.
Now both of these are also at the extreme end of another spectrum and that is parasite load. Both of these are imported in large numbers and the parasite load is probably one of the highest for the WC imports. Considering that these parasites are probably foreign to each other if you think about the habitats they come from and their habits the chances of them living together and one passing along a bad disease to the other is pretty good.
Now this person has an idea of what they are dealing with. What they choose to do is strictly their business.
To the person who posted the original picture, if you have any questions... feel free to ask.

It appears that there has been an influx of K. erosa so you may well have one of the two different 'Forest Hingebacks'. Needless to say the general information is the same.
Here is a good care sheet and a good description of the two types.
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/diffkhomeana_erosa.htm
Ed

And I thought I was the only one who sat and watched every time I feed my babies What about when they yawn? Is there anything more precious than a tortoise yawn first thing in the morning?
I have a baby redfoot, Elvis, and baby yellow foot, the Great God Om (Thigboot to his friends), each are 10 months old (I got them at 2 months). As soon as I figure out how to post photos I will share

Okay, going to try this message image thing - see if it works
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl?photo=54874" alt="Image">

try that again
index.pl?photo=54874" alt="Image">

My russian is really accustomed to seeing my hand and, of course, associating it with food.
With this in mind, he has a funny little habit:

Some foods he won't touch unless they are in my hand. Flowers for instance. Every now and then I'll put a nice bloom in the pen for him to munch on, but he ignores it. Even when I put it in with his normal food selection. But when I pull off a couple of petals and hold them out for him, he just can't get enough.

Watching him go for red peppers is funny too. I give him a tiny bit once a week. Once he sees that red, he runs for it (well as much as it can be called running).

There is something definitely heartwarming about watching a tortoise eat, especially food that you picked or gathered yourself.

BTW, my Russian, Egyptian, & Hermanns all share the same pen & I think they're better off this way. I've observed that tortoises, especially young ones, are far more social than most people think.