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Box Turtle housed with Desert Tortoises?

22 16:13:14

Question
Hello Amanda,
My fiance and I have just adopted 2 baby desert tortoises (Indie and Marion) and we are planning on building them an outdoor habitat that they can live in the rest of their lives. I also have had a western box turtle for about 5 years now(Jose)that would also benefit from the outdoor habitat. In the care sheet I have for the babies it says not to let them live with other turtle species because others may carry diseases that they can catch. Do you know if western box turtles have something that can infect desert tortoises?
I read somewhere else that it's ok to house 2 turtle species if they are from the same region. Is that true? Since they are from the same region I thought it would be ok but I wanted to ask you first before I try it. I wouldn't want anything to happen to the babies or Jose. Thanks for reading,
Tiffany

Answer
Hi Tiffany,

I have been told not to house them together.  However, I house my box turtles (one is a western, or ornate boxie) with my russian tortoise and I have for 6 years without incident.  My vet does not like that I do this but they have an indoor set-up that takes up half the room.

A large outdoor pen with different hiding spots will likely reduce the chance that disease would be transmitted.  When I put my turtles outside they go to seperate areas and so are unlikely to make each other sick (in my opinion).

So sorry, you'll have to make your own decision on this one.  I don't have any definitive information for you.  If you want to be 100% safe then seperate the outdoor cage so each species has its own side.


-Amanda