Sulcata tortoises are best kept by themselves. Sulcatas are solitary tortoises. They are quite territorial. Because of this, bullying in sulcata tortoises is very common when you house more than one tortoise together.
When housing multiple tortoises together, you are most likely going to see varying degrees of bullying and intimidation. You may see both mental and physical signs of bullying. Some of the mental bullying are not as obvious as physical bullying.
Signs of Bullying in Baby Sulcata Tortoises
In smaller tortoises, you may not SEE bullying, like ramming or biting. BUT you may notice the tortoises sleeping together, eating together, etc. This is not always friendly. They aren’t best friends. You have one tortoise trying to get the best food or the best spot for heat. The more dominant tortoise is trying to pysch out the other tortoise. These are signs of mental bullying.
Tortoises don’t have the same feelings as dogs or people, but people tend to invoke feelings onto tortoises.
You may notice that one tortoise isn’t growing as fast as the other, or one of the sulcata tortoises may stay more hidden than the other.
Signs of Bullying in Adult Sulcata Tortoises
Signs of bullying in a larger tortoise can be much more obvious. You’ll likely start see pursuing, ramming, pushing, biting etc. You’ll likely find wounds. One tortoise may mount the other to show dominance.
You may also see the same mental bullying as you may see with baby sulcata tortoises.
Housing Multiple Tortoises Together
When housing two tortoises together, it can be quite stressful. The more dominant tortoise will pour all its aggression onto the other one tortoise. This is why it’s generally not a good idea to house two sulcata tortoises together.
If you’re going to raise multiple sulcatas, stick with groups of three or more. You can still see bullying, but it will be spread out versus focused on one tortoise.
The more tortoises you have, the more space you’ll need to be able to give each tortoise plenty of space for his own. Set up sight barriers, multiple sources of shelter and multiple food and water bowls.
