Another tortoise question?

[weston]

I just bought 2 leopard tortoise hatchlings and they are doing great, I have them in a 36x24 enclosure. Anyways moving on to my question, my sulcatas are breeding again for the second year in a row and I’m building a rack system to hold the hatchlings and as I plan on keeping a few of the ones I have this year I’m looking at building it with three sections so I can also future clutches before I find them homes. Can these tortoises be housed within close quarters I’ve read mixed things online, they won’t be coming in contact with each other and I’m pretty good about keeping cross contamination under control, I’m just wanting to make sure it’s alright and no ones gonna get sick because of the other. I am planing on building one almost like the one pictured in the image I attached but with only 3 shelves instead of 4.

 

[Audaxcity]

You won't have a problem with hatchlings. Once they start putting on some size, you'll need to start watching for aggression if you have a male, and especially if you have two males. Though remember that individuals within genders can show variance in aggression.

Leos aren't particularly nasty. Adults can be kept together, but requires a good sized enclosure so the loser in a fight has space to back off. Having more than just a pair helps as well, because the submissive one otherwise gets all the attention from the dominant one.

 

[weston]

You won't have a problem with hatchlings. Once they start putting on some size, you'll need to start watching for aggression if you have a male, and especially if you have two males. Though remember that individuals within genders can show variance in aggression.

Leos aren't particularly nasty. Adults can be kept together, but requires a good sized enclosure so the loser in a fight has space to back off. Having more than just a pair helps as well, because the submissive one otherwise gets all the attention from the dominant one.

Yes I read that after getting my two Leo’s and told myself I’d get another one down the line but I’d like to wait until they have put on enough size to sex them so I don’t end up with a bunch of males fighting each other.
Also I wasn’t talking about keeping the 2 Leo’s together or the 1-3 sulcatas together, I was talking about keeping the enclosures that close together I was reading people online asking about keeping different species together and the people responding to the question were freaking out so I definitely don’t plan on keeping my Leo’s and sulcatas together in the same enclosure but I was wondering if any of those problems like spreading parasites and pathogens to one another would still be an issue in the rack shown above? I keep my enclosures clean and free of any old waist. I also wash my hands between handling and try to not touch or stress the turtle as much as possible.

 

[Jdreal21]

care and diet are very similar with sulcatas and leopards. as hatchlings If I didn't have the space to separate id house together. I keep 5 hatchling red foots together never seen any aggression towards one another but can vary from species or even specimen to specimen

 

[Viridis]

Keeping the enclosures close together should be fine. Just try to keep cross-contamination to a minimum (as best as one can as a hobbyist).

 

[weston]

Keeping the enclosures close together should be fine. Just try to keep cross-contamination to a minimum (as best as one can as a hobbyist).

Thank you for answering my question. I was reading further on the topic and found out a lot of people house them together and have no issues, or that’s at least when all the animals are captive bred. I still don’t plan on keeping the two together because I know the sulcatas are far more aggressive and will outgrow the Leo’s but at least I know health wise my animals should all be safe. I’m purchasing the lumber this weekend to build my stacked tortoise table. I personally visited the breeders home who I purchased my Leopards from and all of there animals seemed to be in excellent condition. On top of that the sulcata hatchlings I would be housing are coming from my own pair that I’ve had for over 8 years and purchased from a breeder as well, I think I’ll be safe.