Can Tortoises Live With Other Pets? (A Beginners Guide)

Everybody that has a pet will want at some point to get another pet, I don’t know why but I never met a pet owner that at one point didn’t want to get another one. But as we all know having two different pets is not always a good idea, as not all pets like other pets. So, what about tortoises? Can tortoises live with other pets?

Tortoises can live with other pets, as long as neither of them is showing aggressive behavior towards the other. Some pets are more inclined to show aggressive behavior toward tortoises than others.

While it’s important that your pets are friendly toward each other, there are a few more things needed in order to make sure that they live peacefully. So let’s have a look at how well can a tortoise live with other pets. We’ll start by taking a look at some of the most common pets out there, cats and dogs, then have a look at other reptiles and a few more common pets.

Can Tortoises Live With Dogs?

Dogs, there are a whole lot of different types of dogs, some are small, some are full of energy, some of them are aggressive and some of them are too friendly. So, there are a lot of possibilities.

In general, tortoises and dogs can live together, the biggest problem that can arise is an overly excited dog, but in most cases, dogs tend to calm down after a day or two.

First of all, if you keep your tortoise in an enclosure or a terrarium, which is out of the reach of the dog, then there is no problem. Both of them can share the same house without any problem.

If you want to let your tortoises run free through the house, or there is no safe place to keep the enclosure from the dog there are a few things to take into consideration.

The first thing, you have to do is make sure that your dog has enough toys, so that it’s not tempted to play with the tortoise. The same thing with food.

If your dog is full of energy and very friendly he will most likely scare the tortoise the first time they meet. And that’s to be expected as tortoises can be scared very easily. But unless your dog gets too physical, all the tortoises will do is hide, it won’t try to bite unless it feels really threatened, like if the dog picks it up in its mouth.

One more thing to take into consideration is that a tortoise that hides in its shell all the time is a scared tortoise, and a scared tortoise is a stressed tortoise. If it happens a few times, that’s fine. But if it happens all the time, it can lead to health problems and aggressive behavior. Despite their tough appearance, they are quite sensitive to stress.

So, if your dog learns not to pay too much attention to the tortoise, and the tortoise learns that the dog is harmless the two of them can happily live together.

Can Tortoises Live With Cats?

If you already own a cat, or if you’ve seen a few cat pets, you know that it all comes down to their personality, more than anything else.

If the cat and tortoises learn to leave the other be, they can haply live together. The biggest problem is that the cat will want to play with the tortoise.

If you want to keep your tortoises in an enclosure or terrarium you have to make sure that it’s completely secure and that you have something that will keep the cat out.

Most cats are not aggressive, but they are curious, and they like to play with everything that they shouldn’t. And if you bring a tortoise in the house, or if you have a tortoise and bring a cat in the house, you can be sure that they will notice each other.

Just like with the dog, the tortoises will most likely just hide in its shell at first, but if the cat starts playing with the tortoises, there is a good chance that the tortoise will feel threatened and will bite, and despite their innocent look, tortoises bites can be really dangerous.

In the case of adult cats, they don’t need to play as much and will sleep most of the day. So there is a good chance that they won’t bother the tortoise.

On the other hand, young cats really like to play with everything that they can find, so having a young cat and a tortoise is probably not the best idea, but as I said in the beginning it all depends on the personality of the cat, some cats are just more relaxed and won’t show any interest in the tortoise.

Can Tortoises Live With Other Reptiles?

Tortoises are reptiles, so while they don’t really like the company of most pets, they might like the company of a fellow reptile, no?

Tortoises shouldn’t be kept in the same terrarium with other reptiles. Most reptiles are territorial and will fight with other animals and reptiles for their territory.

While you might think that reptiles would get along better amongst themselves than with other animals, that is completely false.

With the exception of snakes, most other reptiles are territorial, and they will end up fighting if they are placed in a confined space.

So, overall I would not advise you to even try to keep two reptiles in the same enclosure, the risk of them fighting is too big.

But if you want to keep them in separate terrariums, then you can go ahead without any worry. Just make sure that they are not sitting next to each other. While they are in no real danger from this, it can be really annoying for them.

Can Tortoises Live With Other Tortoises?

So, living with other reptiles is out of the question, but what about other tortoises, they are still reptiles, but they are also tortoises, so they should be fine, no?

Tortoises can’t usually live with other tortoises. Just like with other reptiles, if you have two or more tortoises in the same enclosure they will usually end up fighting.

While in most cases tortoises end up being aggressive to defend themselves, this time they will be the aggressor.

As docile as they are, tortoises can become really territorial with other tortoises and in most cases, they will end up fighting. This problem can be usually solved by having enough space so that the two of them don’t have to interact with each other, and each one will have its territory. But this is not the only reason why they will fight.

Another common reason why they can fight is food. Even if you give them enough food, they can still end up fighting over it. Tortoises are what we call opportunistic feeders, this means that it’s in their nature to eat as much as they can whenever they find food.

Even if tortoises have been pets for hundreds of years their behavior is identical to that of wild tortoises, and no matter what you do as a tortoise wonder you can’t change that, so the only way to solve this problem is to feed your tortoises as far away as possible from each other.

Another reason why they will fight, if there weren’t enough already, is to assert dominance over each other during the mating season, or in order to mate with the other tortoises, if you have a male and a female.

Unfortunately, asides from keeping them away from each other, there is not much that you can do in this case.

If you would like to know if your tortoise is male or female you can check out this article right here: How to Tell If a Tortoise Is Male or Female (with Pictures), where you will find a detailed guide with pictures that will help you to find out if your tortoise is a boy or a girl in just a few minutes.

So just like with other reptiles, the best way to keep two tortoises is in separate enclosures. Or you could let them both run free through the house, and keep them in separate rooms during the spring when the mating season comes.

Can Tortoises Live With Birds?

This is probably the safest combination.

Pet birds and tortoises can in most cases live happily together. The only notable exception is if the bird is really big, but if we are talking about a Parakeet/Budgie, or something of a similar size, then yes they can live together.

Ideally, the tortoise will stay in an enclosure and the bird in a cage, this way they won’t have to interact with each other. But even if you let both of them free in the house at the same time, they will most likely both avoid each other.

Birds usually like to fly around and when they stop they usually do so on a tall object, while tortoises are on the ground. So they don’t usually meet each other, even if they notice that there is another pet in the room.

Tortoises and birds have nothing in common, and are not interested in the same things, they won’t go after each other food and are usually peaceful, unless provoked. So they make a perfect pair.

Can Tortoises Live With Other Pets?

There are a lot of different pets out there, and I can’t cover all of them in this article, but that’s fine because there is no need to look at each pet individually, as it all comes down to a few things.

How energetic is the pet, how aggressive it is, and how mobile it is.

Tortoises like to do things slow and easy, and don’t really like to be near another pet that runs all over the house, throws things, makes a lot of sounds, or tries to play with them. So if your other pet also likes to relax more than run, or if it can ignore the tortoise, they will get along just fine.

As for aggressiveness, this is not something that you want in a pet, so definitely not something you want when you have two or more pets.

Mobility might seem a little strange, but ideally, if you will keep your tortoises in an enclosure, you don’t want your other pet to be able to reach it. And if your other pet can climb or fly to the enclosure, you have to make sure that it’s very firm, has a lid or a net above it, and can’t be easily knocked down.

One more thing to keep in mind when keeping two different pets in the same house is that one pet can carry bacteria that are harmless to itself but can be really dangerous to other pets. This is usually the case for pets that won’t normally meet each other in the wild, so for example one comes from a tropical island, and the other one from a tundra.

Final Thoughts

And that’s about it. Tortoises can live together with other pets, as long as they don’t have to interact too much with each other, and the other pet doesn’t think of the tortoise as its next meal.

Overall tortoises are not the most social animals out there, I would actually put them more towards the bottom of the chart. But this doesn’t mean that they can’t live happily alongside another pet. So, if you want to have more than one pet you should give it a try, just make sure that you keep an eye on all of your pets for the first few weeks, and avoid leaving them alone in the same room until you are sure that they will both be safe.

I hope this article answered all of your questions about tortoises and how they get along with other pets, but in case there is anything else that you would like to know, don’t hesitate to leave a question in the comment section below. I regularly check for questions and answer each and every one of them.