2nd Tortoise

[hayl_b]

Hi

I current have a male Horsefield Tortoise (Reggie) who is 6 years old and am thinking about getting a second one. I would like Reggie to have some company as I don't want him to get lonely but have a few questions to ask first...

Reggie does sneeze often though even though we nebulise him regularly, the vet has said it is something he will always do, do you think it you we safe to have a second tortoise to live with?

If so, I have heard a female tortoise would be best as males tend to fight, if I did get a female tortoise what age would she need to be?

And do the tortoises need to be kept apart for a certain length of time before we can bring them together? Should they be introduced for short periods of time and first and gradually spend more time together? Or can they be together all the time straight away.

Any help would be great, thanks.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by hayl_b

Hi

I current have a male Horsefield Tortoise (Reggie) who is 6 years old and am thinking about getting a second one. I would like Reggie to have some company as I don't want him to get lonely but have a few questions to ask first...

Reggie does sneeze often though even though we nebulise him regularly, the vet has said it is something he will always do, do you think it you we safe to have a second tortoise to live with?

If so, I have heard a female tortoise would be best as males tend to fight, if I did get a female tortoise what age would she need to be?

And do the tortoises need to be kept apart for a certain length of time before we can bring them together? Should they be introduced for short periods of time and first and gradually spend more time together? Or can they be together all the time straight away.

Any help would be great, thanks.

Tortoises don't get lonely, that's a human feeling. They live quite happily in the wild on their own:0)
Getting a new horsfield will cause problems, especially if your existing one is more than a hatchling.
If the existing one is male, then putting a male in with him, will cause fighting as one has to be alpha male.
Putting a lone female in with one male will cause the female a lot of stress, as the male will not leave her alone. You need at least three females to one male to get any peace.
Two females and they can get on, but again one will have to be alpha female, but its not such a big problem as two males together.
A period of quarantine will be needed, as the new tortoise will have to get used to a new setup and way of being kept. Which can sometimes bring out any underlying illness. Better when they are on their own to find this out, than anything be spread to your existing tortoise.

[Catwoman63]

I agree with sandy (apart from the "human feeling" )

To add to the above, your tortoise may be a carrier, or his home is very dusty hence the sneezing, or is allergic to something,you shouldn't have to nebulize regularly, as much as I rate nebulization that has been fantastic on some of mine, continually nebulizing (with f10??) I would assume would be bad for them, I might be wrong here x

We can't see whats going on inside unfortunately, if he is eating, and active then in my opinion you don't need to keep nebulizing

[hayl_b]

Thanks for both of your replies they have been very helpful.

Reggie is nebulised regularly on the vets advice, I'm not sure if it is bad to do it all of the time I will have to look into it. We are going to change his soil as that does seem quite dry so that may help stop him sneezing and we wont need to nebulise him as often.