# Sexual maturity Redfoots



## christinaland128 (Mar 10, 2016)

I've read that reds develop sexual maturity relevant to their size not age so I just want to get some clarity on the whole breeding subject because I'm a little shell shocked after my first encounter with hanky panky. 

My 2 yr old male Redfoot flashed me his monkey business less than a week ago and then all of a sudden today I caught him mounting my unsuspecting female and making his charming noises. I was super surprised! I thought he would display his sexual interest by flashing for the next few years, I did not expect him to mount right away!

So my questions are:

1) what are some signs that my female is not responding well. I don't want her to feel bullied. As of now she is eating just fine and not hiding more than usual.

2) she is 2 pounds and 7 inches long, at what point can I expect her to start laying fertile eggs? 

3) How many clutches does an immature female lay initially that are duds?

4) is there anything else I need to know about the course to successful breeding. Egg bound thread? Dos and donts?

Thank you! 

@Tom @N2TORTS


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## cdmay (Mar 10, 2016)

OK not enough info here, but I'll try.
The little male is showing precocious behavior that I guarantee you is a result of captive growth/environment. But he may be capable of breeding despite his age, although you didn't mention how large he is.
Also, are these northern red-footed tortoise or the smaller 'cherry-head' type?
Your female is just barely at the minimum size of any red-footed tortoise breeding, so do both her and yourself a favor and get her away from that little male! Get them apart ASAP. She is likely too small and too young to start breeding.
Remember, 6th grade human children can reproduce---but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Same goes for your tortoises.

Once a female red-footed tortoise is mature enough to begin breeding they typically lay fertile eggs if they've been successfully bred...nature doesn't waste resources and tortoises do not expend the energy, fats and calcium to produce practice eggs. 

My guess is that you've caught that little male engaging in his first attempts at breeding. But again, I highly recommend keeping them separate at least until you an determine how old your female is.
There is more to consider but this is a start.
Photos of them both will help.
Look at the bright side...your little male will likely be a good breeder!


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## N2TORTS (Mar 10, 2016)

Too add to Mr.Carls Advice which is spot on .......
For myself and best fertility of clutches , it's not so much size.... but age as well. They sorta of go hand in hand. But most of the time your looking at min 10" plus for a good marker and at least 10 years old or older.(what type of Redfoot are we talking about ?) Smaller females will and can produce but I'm trying to suggest an "average". Also the fact with older/;larger animals your chances for fertile eggs go up. They are not huge layers like leo's or Sullies' ....with most clutches in the 2-4 egg range. Some large/older Reds' will produce 6-10 egg clutches. If you get 50% to hatch your doing great!......as I find one of the harder tortoises' to hatch 100% clutches. So even with large/mature females , eggs are always not fertile.(or a percentage of them are) Your male will even mount another male (if you have one) so don't be surprised at that if you see it happen. A happy female is one eating , staying hydrated and no visual bite marks ect......A gravid female will usually eat much less or stop completely, will spend more time pacing your enclosure with lot's of soaking, just sitting in the bowl. Much less sociable with the group and finally will choose her spot-most often right after soaking. She may also dig several nests before actually even laying the eggs, spending hours digging .....then walk away. I spend a lot of time with my animals I can also feel the weight difference between my gals when they are gravid. My own herds have the chance of nesting inside the hut or outside in the their yard year around and its about a 60-40%. Your substrate level should be no less than 14" deep, The deeper the better.....along with ease of non-compacted soil for the female to dig ,although one of the amazing attributes they can dig like a darn backhoe and cover it up like they used a compactor, with very minimal soil disturbance and often why and how nests are missed. Several factor's are involved but space and a natural type setting are a very important role too.


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## christinaland128 (Mar 11, 2016)

My female is a Columbian, she is a little bit bigger than the male, we're taking ounces.


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## christinaland128 (Mar 11, 2016)

My male is Brazilian, same size. 2 lbs and 7".....


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## christinaland128 (Mar 11, 2016)

Thank you guys! I didn't expect to even be able to sex them this young. In fact I'm not even sure about the "female". Her plastron is not concave like the other.


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## cdmay (Mar 11, 2016)

Nice plastrons. Your female is still too young/small to be laying eggs. Notice that the opening between her carapace and plastron (where her tail emerges) is still rather constricted and has not 'rounded out' yet. Also, the average egg diameter of a red-foot tortoise egg is 3.5 to 4.0 cm so this opening must be large enough to allow the passage of eggs this size---plus the girl's extended tail too. 
As regards your question about her actual sex...at this point, it looks like a female. But I've seen a few Colombians look like yours up to 7 or 8 inches--when they suddenly began to develop a huge tail and a concave plastron of a male!


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