# Do Russian tortoises retain sperm?



## justin.notarianni1 (May 9, 2016)

So I rescued (or I like to think so, since the tortoise was being kept in horrible conditions) a Russian tortoise from petsmart when I saw her on the way to buy crickets. My concern is that I've had her for about 8-9 weeks and she's starting to dig aLOT. She digs in her substrate with her back legs and rests there. She was housed with male tortoises. Could she be laying eggs? I'll post a pic for her size, because she does seem very small to be gravid. Thanks


----------



## justin.notarianni1 (May 9, 2016)

She's kind of dug in as you can see there.


----------



## Alexio (May 9, 2016)

How long is she from front to back of shell? How deep \ moist is your substrate? Are you 100% she is female? Most large box store Russians are males, but a few girls can sneak in as well.


----------



## ZEROPILOT (May 10, 2016)

Yes. They can store sperm and for quite a long time.
However, digging in is pretty common.


----------



## Jodie (May 10, 2016)

Post pics of her tail and we can verify sex. It looks like nesting to me. I would get her a nesting area set up.


----------



## justin.notarianni1 (May 10, 2016)

She's about 5 inches from front to back with a straight ruler. I'm 100% sure, she has a stubby tail that is always down.


----------



## Alexio (May 10, 2016)

If it is very short stubby with a kind of star***** shape as opposed to a | shape then it is female. 5in may be big enough to lay eggs I have two Russian females around that size.( though they haven't been bread to my knowledge. They are likely wild caught)


----------

