I have read that tortoises are solitary animals but have noticed that mine have paired of into couples when they go to sleep they are always in a pair and in the same place and when feeding I try to feed away from each other so I can monitor how much each one is getting but one of my babies will not eat unless he is with the one who he has paired off with.
Its quite sweet to see them all enjoying each others company and it is quite funny watching one pair following each other around,there different personalities are now starting to shine through them being in our home has had a impact on all of us and we cannot see our home without them.

Hi Malcolm,

There are different views on whether they should be kept as solitary animals and I’ve read on many occasions that tortoises don’t interact with one another. Certainly in the wild, many species live within close proximity to one another and they certainly do interact with one another, whether it is for mating, competing for mates or merely sniffing one another/checking each other out. My personal view is it isn’t natural for a tortoise to “never” come across another tortoise. With hatchlings/juveniles, & sometimes adults, it’s noticeable how they all try the cram in together and will climb over one another and force another sleeping hatchling/juvenile to the outside. Safety in numbers from predators? – personally I think so:-)

Regards
Darren

Hi Malcolm,

Great to see you enjoying your tortoises :)

I personally think there are benefits in the interaction. Nothing encourages a hesitant feeder to eat more than seeing another tortoise tucking in in my exerience. I even used a plexiglass divider once to encourage a new, quarentined tortoise to eat by placing food on each sideof the divide and plonking a greedy Hermanns on the other side, it worked!
I have a pair of four year old males who remain buddies to this day. They sleep in the same place, get up together, follow each other around(I'm sure they just don't want to miss out on anything the other finds to eat). Whether this will still be the case when the hormones kick in we'll wait and see.

I had a male Horsefield for 7 years and he always been living alone in his tank. I noticed whenever I comes home late, he sleeps early. I got the impression that he is lonely so got him a baby tortoise. Big mistake. At first he was ok, then after about half  an hour after I put the little one in his tank. He was sniffing the little one and opened his big mouth and tries to bite the little one head. I ended up have to gave up the big one as he is not happy. I end up re-homing him.