I would like everyone's opinion on this, especially those with bigger outdoor enclosures and multiple boxies.

I am considering whether or not to add more boxies this year. As it stands, I have a male adult 3-toed and two male juvenile/sub-adult Easterns. Now, I would want to add females, but I want everyone's opinion on how many I would need to keep a healthy and non-aggressive group, considering the amount of space they will have.

I am in the process of constructing a whole new enclosure. It will take up the old footprint of my 100 square foot pen, and their night pen area and a flowerbed. All told, it will be around 550-600 square feet. It will be heavily planted, and because of the geometry, it will have lots of breaks in sightlines. Also, I'm installing a shallow, five by five pond as well as a small bog. Again, both will be heavily planted.

Most recommendations set the minimum female to male ratio at two females to one male. If I add four Easterns and two 3-toed females, is this enough space for 9 boxies and will this ratio of 6 females to 3 males keep harmony? I know several some say to keep males and females separate, and I know some say if your pen is big enough with enough hiding places and breaks, they will be fine kept together.

I just want to get a feel for if my enclosure would be big enough to keep a group that size together without much fighting from males and harassment of females...

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