19
Jun
You can house two hatchlings together however that does not mean they will always be able to live in the same enclosure. The shell is not impervious armor that prevents your tortoise from feeling damage.
During breeding care must be taken to separate the sexes if the females start being injured from his attentions.
Can you keep a male and female hermann tortoise together. Tortoises should not be kept in pairs. A trio of young juveniles or a group of one adult male and two or more females will probably be fine in an enclosure that size. Not a requirement but I like to use flat rocks slate or flagstone under my basking lamps.
Do Not Keep One Male and One Female Together. Just as two males will be prone to fighting due to lack of distraction by other tortoises or the ability to get far enough away from each other a male kept in close quarters to a single female will be equally as destructive. While females can coexist peacefully with males you need to consider the gender ratio during housing.
You should avoid keeping a single male and female together as the male will become aggressive and destructive especially if the enclosure is also small. In such a scenario the male will constantly mate the female to unnatural levels. You can house two hatchlings together however that does not mean they will always be able to live in the same enclosure.
Two females would probably be better then two males or one of each. But again the sex of them can not be determined until they are a lot older and bigger. Can you keep two different species together also as I very much like the look on leopard tortoises.
You cannot mix breeds - apart from the breeding side of it they have totally different requirements so NOT advisable. Any advice as to why this would be an ok thing to do or a situation to avoid would be very much appreciated. Hope I havent scared you off Welcome to the forum by the way.
Can you keep two tortoises together. Yes but not every tortoise will enjoy this. Two males should never be left alone together.
Its okay to have two females together. You can also do a tank with mixed genders as long as there arent too many males. Do tortoises need friends.
Youre only likely to need to know for sure whether your tortoise is male or female if you plan to keep two tortoises together otherwise its a fairly inconsequential detail that. If your enclosure is big enough for them to have their own space then there is no reason why you cant keep two of the same sex together. I know this as I have males together and havent experienced any problems as yet.
But feel safe in the knowledge that if they did fight the they can get away from each other. IF you decide you want more than 1 tortoise please avoid keeping 2 males together or 1 male and 1 female. Either 3 females with LOTS of space or 1 male and 3 females might work.
But even then you may find yourself needing a degree in tortoise diplomatics. Males will have a concave belly where females bellies will be flat. Leopards are a tortoise that can be difficult to sex even at their middle sizes.
Generally once a leopard tortoise has a long tail you can call it a male. I have seen many of these tortoises maintain a short tail. Hermanns tortoises are calm and passive.
However they can exhibit some aggression with members of the opposite sex. This means males and females should never live together in the same environment unless you plan on breeding the tortoises. Males tend to be far more aggressive than females so in general they are best kept in solitude unless you plan on trying your hand at breeding.
Females on the other hand can be kept in groups without issue providing they each have a reasonable amount of space to themselves without the risk of. During courtship male tortoises will chase and ram the females sometimes causing harm. Only bring males and females together if you intend to mate them.
Otherwise house them separately. Housing the Hermanns Tortoise Adult Hermanns tortoises do not fare well indoors so keep this in mind before bringing one home. As you can see the rear of the carapace is wider in comparison to the female.
As can be seen in the close-up below the females tail on the right is much shorter in length. Male Testudo hermanni are very aggressive breeders. During breeding care must be taken to separate the sexes if the females start being injured from his attentions.
You should not mix Hermanns that have a large difference in size and you should not keep males together as they can fight. Females seem to be more than happy to live together and one male with multiple females is also ok. Keeping two or more female tortoises together is generally fine and keeping one male with two or more females can also work.
Your tortoises shell is not just armor. It turns out your tortoise has nerve endings in its shell and can feel even light touch. The shell is not impervious armor that prevents your tortoise from feeling damage.