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my friend has got one here is a painting i did of him. he is over the top male aggressive.
very funny.
Most males are very aggressive. Even a good number of the females. Too bad. We'd planned on bringing home 2 of them when we adopted Panz. Unfortunately the smaller of the two was aggressive so we couldn't take him. Not taking chances with their health.
For the record, the smallest was just under a pound a year and a half ago, was about 7 pounds when that photo was taken and now is over 12 pounds. They grow like weeds.
Sherman - the female - is now just shy of 65 pounds. And Panz is tipping the scales just over 100 pounds. Once we put them outside this spring and they could graze to their content and get lots of fresh air and sunshine, they all had massive growth spurts.
We're looking at having a solid pen - like a shed - built for them. At their size, there's just no way we could carry Sherm and Panz back and forth all fall and then out in the spring. And could you imagine trying to live with a couple hundred pounds of tortoise roaming your house all winter?
I have 2 Spur Thigh Tortoises. One is probably 3 or 4 and is definitely male, the other is 1 year old. Both were rescued from certain death by car-totoise collisions and now we have them. We keep them seperated because the older one is male and Ive heard they can be aggressive to each other. Im wondering why my older tortoise is taking out his boy parts and displaying them in a very impolite manner. THe first time I saw him do this I thought he was pointing it at the dogs because he was eating some fruit and they were curious. But today I saw him doing it again for no apparent reason. Is this common behavior for males?
Location: Vermont, grew up in Colorado and California
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Originally Posted by aisla
I have 2 Spur Thigh Tortoises. One is probably 3 or 4 and is definitely male, the other is 1 year old. Both were rescued from certain death by car-totoise collisions and now we have them. We keep them seperated because the older one is male and Ive heard they can be aggressive to each other. Im wondering why my older tortoise is taking out his boy parts and displaying them in a very impolite manner. THe first time I saw him do this I thought he was pointing it at the dogs because he was eating some fruit and they were curious. But today I saw him doing it again for no apparent reason. Is this common behavior for males?
I have 2 Spur Thigh Tortoises. One is probably 3 or 4 and is definitely male, the other is 1 year old. Both were rescued from certain death by car-totoise collisions and now we have them. We keep them seperated because the older one is male and Ive heard they can be aggressive to each other. Im wondering why my older tortoise is taking out his boy parts and displaying them in a very impolite manner. THe first time I saw him do this I thought he was pointing it at the dogs because he was eating some fruit and they were curious. But today I saw him doing it again for no apparent reason. Is this common behavior for males?
Very common. Nothing to worry about. You can try them together and see if they get along. Our three get along with no problems, other than the oldest male wanting to mate constantly and the female getting sick of him. I'm thinking of building a hut that's just barely wide enough for her to access but too narrow for him. She'd have to have good aim to get in there though, because she's really close to his size. Just trying to find some place for her to have some peace from the monster!
Also, please don't give them fruit!! It's terrible for them. They need to be on grasses and weeds almost exclusively. As a matter of fact, in the warmer months I don't supplement feeding anything at all. Fruits and vegetables cause them to pyramid, which can result in an unbelievably excrutiating very long death. Please, please, please do some homework on this species. Once you learn how to properly care for them and are set up for it, they are quite easy keepers. But things like feeding fruits and veggies, not letting them outdoors to get the proper UVA/UVB lights, not keeping them very warm - no temps under 60 degrees - etc, are ways to kill them.
That boxer / sulcata vid is cute, but I hope they keep an eye on them and seperate when they're not there to supervise. Dogs kill tortoises all the time. Most of the time not meaning to, but still tragic.
Mrs, I had no idea people could keep ones that big! I always thought of them as being in a terrarium. Thanks for the education and I hope yours are thriving.
Mrs, I had no idea people could keep ones that big! I always thought of them as being in a terrarium. Thanks for the education and I hope yours are thriving.
Most people don't. They're the size of a quarter when they hatch and that's when pet stores put them up for sale. No info to anyone looking at them that they must stay at 60+ degrees, preferably closer to 90 degrees. Don't tell them they'll get 100+ pounds and some have reached over 200 pounds. Don't tell you they show affection by ramming you, something that's a little painful to ankles once they hit about 35 pounds. Don't tell you they can take down a privacy fence in a few blows, dig their way through concrete block, crumble drywall to a fine powder, dig holes 20 feet deet and 35 feet long, uproot footings to a home's foundation, etc. They're not for people that don't truly prepare for them.
Sadly few do, and that leaves many thrown outside where they'll die their first winter. A few of them make it to rescues. They're the lucky ones, though when they get there they usually are pyramided and will need serious diet rehab to start them on the right track.
As for the growth rate, my youngest male (we think he's a male anyway) was less than a pound when I adopted him less than 2 years ago. He's currently 38 pounds. He'll easily top a 40 pound weight gain in the first two years and he's bigger than a basketball.
Here. This is Sherman and Panzer. He's on the right, she's the lighter color on the left. See how her shell has the 'pyramids', especially compared to his? That's pyramiding and it can get so bad that the shell won't grow out anymore, but grows straight up. It's an agonizing death that's like being tortured to death for years before finally dying a horrific death. Sherm was adopted like that, although it's started to flatten out some, thanks to a changed diet and sunshine most of the year. But even Panzer's shell doesn't look like it should. He's got some pyramiding as well. It should be perfectly smooth, no lumps at all.
Sherm is pretty social compared to Panz. We've only had him about a year, so he's not completely comfy with us yet. We got Sherm right as fall came in, so she spent the first 4 or 5 months with us in the house, living right beside the dogs. I think that had something to do with her personality. I think she thinks she's a dog. She follows us where we go in the yard and I'll take her out front for walks once in a while. She eats right from your hand.
Like I said - get them off fruits and veggies, especially as a hatchling or yearling. Very, very dangerous. Once they're older, as a rare snack (usually a small bit once or twice a month) I'll let them have some kale or once in a really really blue moon a couple bites of banana. Sherm will eat right from your hand. Panz will try to ram it out of your hand. He likes his food on the plate!
They also drink water right from the dog bowls out back. This one sits under the faucet to catch any water that drips for them.
What their shell should look like. This guy is Tank. He's owned by the guy that runs the rescue that we adopted all of ours from. Tank came in as a hatchling and he just fell in love with him and kept him. He's had excellent diet and care, so his shell looks fabulous.
The baby, Bradley when we adopted him less than 2 years ago:
Oh, I found these!! LOL. Sherman's favorite place to play - yes, they play - is under the grill. She walks back and forth over the bars like it's a game, but once in a while she gets herself high centered and we have to help her get back down. Typical kid, always in trouble!
And on the hottest days, she loves her swimming pool. Yep, they've got a pool. Just have to be careful with the level as torts can't swim or float. Some box turtle can float if they fall in a pond. NOt torts - they sink like a rock.
Getting lovings from daddy. She loves her head and neck rubbed.
The chickens think she's their personal armored bodyguard!!
On our walk out front one day she found a pear. I didn't even know we had a pear tree. I tried to get that blasted thing back from her, but each time I reached down, she'd pull it and her head in her shell and wrap those big legs in front of her where I couldn't get to it. I just gave up. That was her special treat that month!
Last one, I promise. Just cuz I thought it was cute. We had someone dump a boxie hatchling on us. BTW - if you see them in the road, move them off the road but don't take them from their territory. New research is showing that in their area they know where to find food and if you move them they may starve. And never take one home! Once it's been in captivity, especially around other turts and torts, it can never be re-released. That's how we got our Tank. They thought he was cute and took him home as a pet and then realized they had no clue how to care for him. Argh!!
Anyway, after being with us a few months he was so tame he ate worms right out of our hands!
Lovely photos! I have seen pyramided guys in the zoo but didn't realize it meant anything bad. You have quite the managerie. Your pittie looks just like my male pittie, about 2 y/o and a rescue. Sweetest dog!
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