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Two males doing the nasty?

shion Jul 14, 2007 03:58 PM

I am trying to word this without offending anyone..
I have two males, one I have had for about 5 years, the other I adopted.

Long story short, when I look down in their enclosure it looks like something from a prison movie. With the Smaller one yet the one I have had the longest on top of the other.

He has all the motions right and is a little vocal about it.

Is this something normal?

What should I do ( if anything ) ?

Replies (1)

holy7cow Jul 14, 2007 07:56 PM

Hi,
This behavior is basically a demonstration of dominance.
In the wild it's rare for these guys to run into one another. In those circumstances either they would fight or one would try to run away. In an enclosure, there is no where to go.
On top of this factor, in the wild an encounter with another tortoise who doesn't run off right away sometimes means (to them) that it (the less dominant animal) is a female and ready to breed.
You can try giving them more space but it may or may not make a difference. Some times they work out their issues on their own and the behavior will go away (for the most part). Other times the situation can become too stressful, the animals should be housed separately if they can no longer go about their daily routine without conflict.
My two cents.
--Jeff

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