Hi, I have a male box turtle that has lived by himself. My neighbor owned a Russian Tortoise and no longer wanted it, so I was left to adopt the the tortoise and his big enclosure. I thought the two might get along but the box turtle decide to climb atop the tortoise and tried to bite the tortoise's head or arm a couple of times. Is this not going to work out? Any ideas or comments? Any information is helpful.
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Agression??
ch23119
Sep 12, 2005 01:18 PM
Replies (2)
StephF
Sep 12, 2005 09:26 PM
Do not keep them together: its a bad idea for a multitude of reasons.
They have very different diet and habitat requirements, meaning that in order to keep one healthy, you'd risk compromising the other. They could also end up killing each other by spreading disease.
No aggression necessary.
Stephanie
PHRatz
Sep 13, 2005 09:53 AM
>> They could also end up killing each other by spreading disease.
>>No aggression necessary.
And to put a little more oomph on that statement, according to the Tortoise Trust they should be considered potential carriers of a herpes virus, if they are they can infect other animals.
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/horsfield.html
An animal in a carrier state may not be sick itself but it can cause illness in other animals that have never been exposed to whatever disease the carrier carries. I wouldn't take the risk if it were me.
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PHRatz
