Advice Please

[shelly and tank]

We have a leopard and russian tortoise, both about 3yrs of age. We think the leopard is a female and the russian a male, we have had them about 3 months, each has its own table during the night, in the day we put them in our orchard. They have always gone their seperate ways while in the orchard, however to day we caught the russian circling the leopard, his head out bobbing up and down and mouth open. We picked 'him' up and put 'him' at the other end of the orchard but 'he' wenting racing over to where 'he' had been but we had already moved the leopard and 'she' had toddled off elsewhere. Is this behaviour something to worry about?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, it is. In the first place, if your Russian tortoise was wild caught, he WILL give something to the leopard. Don't know what, but something. Wild caught Russian tortoises are very dirty (parasite and pathogen-wise).

Nextly, you should not mix species. Not a good idea.

the head bobbing may just have been a dominance/aggression thing, but it might have been pre-cursor to breeding. Russian tortoises are very aggressive breeders, sometimes causing injury to the females and making them bleed.

Time for two outdoor habitats.

 

[Laura]

ditto...
and we need pics so we can see your two!

 

[wellington]

DITTO, DITTO, two separate outdoor enclosures a must. It's not if something will happen, it's when. By the way the Russian was acting, I would say soon if not separated.

 

[Lulu]

Russians will try to mate with any tortoise, regardless of sex or species. If you got your russian at a pet store, he may be older than you think and mature or nearly mature sexually. They are very aggressive while mating -- ramming and biting are common. Injury is very possible. Even if he is just being aggressive, they're, well, just plain mean when they're aggressive. He should be kept separate from your other tortoise to avoid injury.

 

[dmmj]

Not just other tortoises, russians will mate with statues, balls, rocks, just about anything.
I personally would separate for many reasons disease, size differences, the fact russians are loners.

 

[Lulu]

Not just other tortoises, russians will mate with statues, balls, rocks, just about anything.

Ain't it the truth.

 

[Amylialifrom hk]

you just should separate them until the male is calm
just don't mix species
thx for listening

 

[shelly and tank]

Wow thank you all for your advice. Will definitely bloke off part of the orchard for the russian.

Both came from a rescue, both have been to our exotic vet who has run loads of blood and urine tests and after a course of antibiotics for the leopard who had Hexamita, both have been given a clean bill of health. Both are of a good size and weight. When we have taken some phots we will post them for you all to see.

 

[shelly and tank]

here goes......not sure how to load photos
first few will be of the leopard
then the russian

 

[shelly and tank]

shelly the leopard

 

[shelly and tank]

tank the russian

 

[shelly and tank]

another photo of the tank

 

[Lulu]

Nice looking tortoises. For what it's worth, we just removed our male russian from the group enclosure today because the ladies are beating up on him. I guess they're just not interested in what he's selling right now. We will probably keep him separate from the females from now on and only introduce him periodically for conjugal visits (as we will with any other males we get). I love russians, but they don't really know how to play nicely with others.

Edit: Also, Tank looks large enough to be sexually mature, and is likely older than you think.

 

[shelly and tank]

another photo of tank

---

another photo of shelly