Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 8 mo old Heramnn's male (I think) with a large 5'x4' indoor pen (live plants, water, lights, caves)

I would like to get a young red foot primarily. another hermanns or a russian if the red doesn't make sense.

My outdoor pen is 6'x8' large with plantings and I live in northern california good weather.

I know the red foot gets big and needs room,but I like their history and will be moving to florida in 2 years.
ideas??

I tried to post this twice to the list you originally posted to and both times it didn't post?????

Sure, Get a hatchling or yearling RF if that's what you really want. You do run a couple of risks though. First you have an established animal. If you add another you run the risk of introducing bugs to the one you have. The other thing is that in my experience RFs are notorious for being what I call 'dirty'. They seem to be able to live with bugs that other animals have trouble with. Now days, most of the available RFs are farmed. I see this as being no different than WC. Even if the seller says they are CB I highly recommend a vet visit and a very long quarantine.
Now if you go with another hermans the risk is significantly reduced. Most if not all hatchling hermans are CB but I'd still recommend the vet visit and quarantine to be sure.
You can do what you are thinking and even get away with it but it requires a great deal of work. Feeding is different for the 2 species to where it will probably cause your hermans problems on a RF diet. As far as the RF is concerned... they are pigs and will eat most anything.
Oh, one last thing... the RF would most likely out grow the present pen in about 5 years if you consider and average captive growth rate based on what I've see among my animals and other keepers of the species.
Ed
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Get another Herman's. I'm sure a number of folks will say “go ahead mix species, nothings going to happen". Don't fall for that line. I've been hearing it for 33 years and 80% of the time nothing happens, however do you feel like being in the other 20%?

Not to sound harsh, but if you want another species, build another pen. If that isn't an option, stick with the same species and quarantine the new one for at least 6 months. Even then the same species quarantined for a good long time with no known issues can still do untold damage....just ask Ed Pirog about his Yellowfoot group or Glen Jacobson about his Leopards.

or however you spell it. (I have the leopards)
Mixing species is a personal choice. While some purists might not like this, there is nothing 'wrong' with mixing species. There might be some problems if you are dealing with WC animals... but even these can be overcome if you are willing to put in the work.
Tortoise/turtle keepers have been doing this for many years and will probably continue do do so for years to come... and very successfully I might add. We are talking about pets here...
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

politically incorrect even on public forums. Ed, what you say makes sense and usually, common sense, at that. What has happened to the thinking nowadays? I always read your posts and always learn something. You are not afraid to tackle issues that many don't want to comment on because it would reveal that they were just repeating the mantra of political correctness. If I wore a hat, I'd take it off to you. Don't stop.

As I've said time and again, I just like talking tortoise and I don't have trouble speaking my mind (although I often wonder if this is a good thing) I'm just glad some people understand what I'm saying (right or 'wrong').
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Everyone has the right to express their opinion, and everyone has the right to decide whether or not to accept someone else's opinion. As (presumably) intelligent people, we should be able to take in all this information, sort it out, and then make up our own minds as to what works and what doesn't. If everything was cut and dried, I think keeping tortoises would be much easier than it is at times, and probably not nearly so interesting. It's the challenges that keep life from becoming monotonous.
-----
Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

and to add to what Ed said -- if you really want to attempt this you should at the very least keep two species together that have the same requirements (diet, temps., humidity and best yet from the same region of the world).

Personally -- I don't define a redfoot as a large tortoise -- They get big enough alright but I think of sulcata and Aldabra when I think of big. Stuff that gets too heavy to lift!! LOL. Regardless -- a redfoot would be a wonderful choice to keep by itself but not something to mix with a Hermans. If you want a cool tort to keep separate go for the Redfoot and check with Ed. He may still have some nice cherryheads left and they don't get as big (generally) as a regular redfoot.

Good luck

Steve

The last of the bunch is off to Hawaii. It only took me close to 2 years to sell them. The next time I will offer RFs is when these gals start producing offspring.
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care