# How to encourage breeding?



## shelleeb76 (Jun 10, 2016)

I have 1 male and 1 female YF...I believe they mated last spring but aren't showing any signs of mating this year...they are housed together. I have seen some posts that say it isn't good for then to be housed together due to aggression however this pair has been together for many years and haven't displayed any aggression. Is there anything I can do to encourage breeding? I don't have a 2nd male to introduce into the mix.


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## Yvonne G (Jun 10, 2016)

Sometimes a male needs to fight with another male to get the testosterone up and running. And sometimes a male needs months away from a female so when he's put back he's more interested in breeding. Could be that the female isn't ready too.


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## shelleeb76 (Jun 10, 2016)

I need to try to separate them for a while I think...I will try that.


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## pepsiandjac (Jun 10, 2016)

This is what happened with mine,I dont know if this is what actually got them going ,but something did lol
2 years ago I bought a pair of Tunisian tortoises the male was 32 and the female was 31,they had been together all their life and had never shown any signs of mating,
I bought them in the October so it was too cold for them to go out and as they dont't hibernate I put them in a insulated shed and planted flowers,grass and whatever,
Oneday I in the shed watching then ,and the male kept running up and down this little grassy hill and all of a sudden he would faceplant the ground lol ,and after a while i realised the grass was tickleing his bits and it was growing and knocking him onto his face,omg it was so funny,he only weighs 370 gms
After that they were at it all the time
She laid her first lot of eggs the following January. 1 egg was fertile 3 unfertile
I don't know how they had been kept before,from the look of it grass was a new experience for them,but something tickled his fancy .


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## Tom (Jun 10, 2016)

What size are your tortoises? Age?

Is it possible they need a "rainy" season with a flooded forrest to stimulate breeding activity? I'm just guessing here.


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## motero (Jun 10, 2016)

I don't know yellow foots, But with some of mine the males are much more aggressive when they have their own territory. They know it, own it, dominate it, it is all theirs and a female happens to enter it one day, watch out.


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## shelleeb76 (Jun 11, 2016)

Tom said:


> What size are your tortoises? Age?
> 
> Is it possible they need a "rainy" season with a flooded forrest to stimulate breeding activity? I'm just guessing here.


They are about 16" in length and we estimate about 15 years old.


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