Is it possible to introduce another tortoise of the same type further down the line or will they fight?

Just curious

Yes you can add another tortoise.

2 or more females can be kept together.

1 male with at least 2 other females can be kept together.

Also, you must quartine befire adding a new tortoise.

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Hmmm, gotta be careful.

Points that spring to mind;
Firstly, depends on species. I had a breeding group of Horsefields a few years ago. I found them to be very troublesome with each other - even females would fight, especially at egg laying time when competition for egg laying sites was high. Lots of room, lots of choice of egg laying sites, but they would bicker and take chunks out of each other, all wanting the same site. Made me break up the group in the end. Remember youngsters will probably not exhibit this behaviour then, suddenly when reaching "tortoise adolescence", start bickering.
Secondly, viral (and other health related) problems, its always a risk, even with quarantine, that one is a carrier. Granted this risk can be small, but you will need to think about it during the decision making process.

Not all doom and gloom though - I have several groups of tortoises of various species. So its possible, just make sure enclosures are large enough so they dont feel "on top of each other". When I study tortoises in the wild, although populations can be quite high in a given area, they live quite solitary lives and dont bump into each other that often. Stress levels can quickly make healthy tortoises, not healthy - even if they do appear to be getting along.

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ive got 2 male hermanns in the same cage and they are lovely together been together for months and never fought

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ANDY B 1

Taken the place of Tops in his absence
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What ive got0.1.0 '07 Amel corn snake2.1.0 Hermanns Tortoises2.3.0 Cats0.2.0 Guinea pigs

You must always quarantine a new addition for 6 months before adding them, regardless of species.

But here goes from my experience of horsfields...

Deemo showed alot of dominant behaviour initially. Mainly mating/courtship behaviour used to show dominance to the smaller kiara (back then it was thought they were both female..oh how the tide changes).

I had a spare table to seperate if it became to bad as horsfields can be very vicious, but persisted providing deemo didn't stress kiara or physically harm her.

After about two weeks they settled down completely, now they'll sometimes sleep together head resting on the others shell...other times they will completely ignore one another and just crack on with what it is they are doing. And sometimes we still get head bobbing behaviour..though both display this now.

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That's really intersting. I usually say to people that they must have the right size and suitability of enclsoure for the species and then go from there. I have to say I have never seen any of my russians fight except when I have to keep them in their covered area if weather conditions are off the scale.
Another thing to make sure of when introducing two adults or adolescents is never to introduce one to an established territory, unless a huge area where they can find a new bit to take over, always start afresh, when bickering is kept to a minimum.

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Take care
Sue

wizzasmum@aol.com

Ah right, it was just I still live at home so I only really have room for wee Humphrey right now, but I wasn't sure if maybe further down the line when I get my own place if it would be possible to buy him a wee roomie! :op I guess its just gonna be like any other animal, just depends on the individual!

Also, when will I roughly be able to tell if he is in fact a wee boy? Or a girl :op His shell is about 8cm atmo, and there was a kinda grey area as to his true origin after I bought him when i took him for a vet check up so its difficult to say his true age/sex. The guy in the pet shop said he was about 2 and was a little boy, But going by the recent sequence of events and finding out that practically everything he sold me was unsuitable, I'm not sure if he was making that up too. Is this size common for a juvenile of about 2 years? Also If I put up pics soon, would anyone be able to help sex him as there is differing opinions :op


Thanks guys for answering my question

Jo

At this age and size it realy is impossible to say what sex it will be Jo. If it is an obvious male<g> we will be able to say, but TBH they usually display female characteristics until 4 or 5 years old. I had a 9? year dig down and disappear for 6 months last year. I was still not sure of it's sex but it came back up a definate male!

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Take care
Sue

wizzasmum@aol.com

When i took him to the vets, he said he looked a lot older, perhaps 3 or 4, which was a bit of a shock! When i look at male/female comparison pics in books he looks like neither lol!

I guess we'll just need to wait and see when he grows up a little bit more

Thanks everyone for the info + feedback

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