Topic Debate: Tortoises are Solitary Animals

 Emerald and his grumpy face

"Tortoises are solitary animals. They don't need friends because in the wild, they live in a open space and rarely find other tortoises"

The above sentences are what we have always seen people post when one asks if they should get another tortoise friend for their tortoise. 

So here we begin the debate. 

I listed the most common reasons I have seen below. 

Tortoises are solitary animals because: 

1. They are introverts 
2. Tortoises are territorial and will be aggressive to each other 
3. They don't need friends because that's how they are like in the wild, living alone. 

Now, I want to go into depth with these reasons: 

1. They are introverts

Are tortoises really introverts, or is this some sort of societal assumption because they have a shell and will hide when afraid? Perhaps if you purchased a wild caught tortoise, this will be common since the tortoise was taken out of the wild against his/her free will. A tortoise that has been living in the wild for 10+ years that is suddenly put into an enclosure that is much smaller than his/her home will most definitely be afraid. But for captive bred tortoises who have been living in an enclosure his/her whole life and have been interacting with humans will act differently. The environment matters. (We will be covering more about wild caught and captive bred tortoises in a later post.) Our captive bred tortoise are not afraid of us at all- in fact, they have great personalities, and all of them are different. 

2. Tortoises are territorial and will be aggressive to each other 

Many people have posted this when someone asks if he/she can buy another tortoise to place with their existing tortoise. We believe that this depends on the species. Some tortoises (like the redfoot, pancake, leopard) are really friendly species and can live peacefully with one another. Other tortoises, like the russian tortoise, are more aggressive toward each other, and we have experienced this firsthand with both our russian tortoises. 

We also want to take enclosure space into consideration. If you put two tortoises in a cramped up enclosure, aggression ought to happen. It is just common sense. Please make sure you have done enough research and have enough space before housing more than one tortoise together. Aggression in tortoise can lead to biting and injuries. Even if you only house one tortoise, please make sure the appropriate enclosure size is used. 

3. They don't need friends because that's how they are like in the wild, living alone. 

I'm not too sure what I think about this sentence. Maybe they live in the wild alone because their environment is vast, leading it to be difficult to find other tortoises? If they live in the wild alone, how are they able to find other tortoises to reproduce? How do we really know they live alone in the wild? Just a couple of thoughts. 

Once again, these are assumptions based on wild caught tortoises- I don't think they should be based off of captive bred tortoises. We have placed tortoises categorized as friendly and they do fine with each other. 

Additionally, our tortoises value interaction. When called upon, they will actually acknowledge us (although we are unsure if this is because we are food, or because we are owner). They enjoy being touched on their heads. Emerald becomes really active and will start exploring his enclosure when we interact with him. Just know that tortoises get bored too!! 

Again, I am not writing this post to encourage people to buy two or more tortoises, but to rather state what I have experienced with our own tortoises. 

I don't think wild caught tortoises can be grouped the same way as captive bred tortoises. They simply live a different lifestyle. 

Le'ts put it this way: Not all Tortoises are Solitary Animals

What are your thoughts? 

Ivory staring at the camera