breeding questions

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ehopkins12

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Hi there! Just had a few questions about breeding russians! Some of you may have read my post earlier about the female russian. I went ahead and bought her yesterday! She seems fine so far. I have her in quarantine for now. Shes eating but still pretty scared. Ill be sure to post pictures when she gets a little more comfortable! Basically my questions pertain to the event that she may lay eggs in the future once she is introduced to the male. How would I go about A. Preparing/knowing shes going to lay? B. Care for the eggs once they came? C. I would like some info on selling/giving them away (referrals, how to find people interested, etc.) Any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks!
 

GBtortoises

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Russian tortoises, as with any species that hibernates (and some that don't) are triggered to breed by seasonal changes. For Russians it's shortly after they come out of hibernation in the spring when the days are longer and the temperatures are rising. They do also often breed at different times after the initial spring season, sometimes in the late summer and often in the early fall. Some people choose not to hibernate their tortoises and still have good breeding success. In most cases these are also triggered by some type of light and temperature manipulation. If Russians are kept day after day with the exact same light, temperature and humidity conditions with no change whatsoever they are not very likely to breed. Upon getting a new tortoise or group of tortoises it will often take one, sometimes two full seasonal cycles before they will begin mating and producing fertile offspring. I emphasis that because many people mistake a male tortoise mounting a female tortoise as mating. Not always true. Males will often constantly mount females to no avail. It is actually up to the female whether or not the male is going to be able to be successful. If she is not receptive, ready to be bred she will sit flat on the ground, her tail straight down, blocking her clocoa, not allowing the male to enter. Females that are ready will raise their rear end up, sometime only slightly, move her tail sideways or outward to allow the male to enter.
If she has been successfully bred, usually within 2 weeks, sometimes as long as 4 weeks, she will begin acting differently. Usually pacing frantically, often trying to climb out of the enclosure. Gravid females will sniff the ground often, sometimes picking a certain spot and going back to sniff it often. If that is the case this will likely be where she chooses to nest. They sniff the ground when looking for a spot to nest in order to detect the amount of moisture in that spot and possibly to some degree the soil make up. Way before this all takes place you need to have an adequate nesting area already in place. It will need to be at least 8" deep for a full grown Russian female. Even deeper may be necessary. Russian tortoises dig very deep nest cavities compared to the size of their body. Many have more than half their body in the nest cavitiy by the time they complete the nest! So the substrate used in the nesting area needs to be fairly compact for digging and not caving in but also not so hard that she cannot dig in it. It also needs to be able to hold some moisture. They can dig in some pretty hard substrates but it's best to give them as ideal conditions for nesting as possible so as not to prolong their search for a nesting site once they're ready.
I allow females to finish nesting, cover the nest and wander off before digging them up. Some people stand by and remove the eggs as they are placed into the nest. That is assuming you're there when it's happening! Either way is probably fine, it just depends upon what you're comfortable with doing. I like to leave them alone and allow them to complete the whole process as naturally as possible. Just preference.
I have the incubator up and running as soon as I see that she is starting to look for nesting sites, or before. This way there is no last minute messing with the incubator. Many people use styrofoam chick egg incubators. Some people build their own. There are also other sources of incubators available, depending upon how much you're willing to pay. I've used the same styrofoam incubators for several years now with no problems. New they are anywhere from about $50-60. I use margarine containers (without the lids) to place the eggs in. Within the container I have about 1 1/2" of vermiculite that is damped with water just enough so that when you pick it up and squeeze it the ball in your hand holds together. I carefully dig up the eggs, being very careful to always keep the top side up. If you roll them sideways or tip them upside down you can kill the embryo inside. This is really not true of eggs that are moved within the first day because the embryo has not yet developed, but still a good practice use each time. I use my finger to create a depression in the vermiculite and place an egg in each depression. I keep them from touching if possible so that if one goes bad and begins to get mold on it that mold will be less likely to spread to the other eggs before I can get the bad one out. The eggs are buried about 2/3 of the way into the vermiculite. I then place them in the incubator that has an open container of water in it to create humidity and a digital therometer/hygrometer. Incubation temperatures will depend upon if you want to produce more males/females or a mix of both but should be set within the 84-89 degree range. Temperature determined sex ratio is a whole other subject. Humidity level within the incubator for Russian tortoises should be 55-75%. Total incubation time could take anywhere from 52-70 days. The duration is completely dependant upon temperatures and humidity levels.
 

TortoiseMD

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Great information, thanks.
Do you isolate the female when she is ready to deposit eggs (to prevent mates from harrassing her)?
 

GBtortoises

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Mine breed and nest outdoors so I do not seperate males from females or isolate the female. If they're given enough space in a well planned out enclosure with some obstacles and plant cover they will often choose a location that is good for nesting and away from the main activity areas. Not always, but often. I've never had a problem with males harrasing females while they're nesting.
 
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