I am going to separate them when I see fighting I have a 4x10 foot I really want them to breed so far I haven’t seen any fightingHow big is the actual enclosure? One Russian needs a 4x8 foot. They should never be kept in pairs and only put together too breed unless they are actually in a huge, like a bedroom size or bigger enclosure with lots of sight barriers, hides, feeding and water stations. Russians are one of the scrappiest torts. Your male will bug your female too illness or death trying too breed if she is the only one.
She has to "want to". If a female tortoise does not want something in her cloaca, there is nothing going in there! The male is normally much more interested in mating than the female. He has to get her receptive. The mating activity we see as aggressive is actually evolved to be pretty specific by species to get the female to accept the activity. Ramming, biting, chasing, mounting, all need to add up to what releases the hormones in the female to be receptive and "loosen up"!! These actions are sometimes so specific by species it is indeed a barrier in itself to cross-breeding.Question... does the female ever really want to breed or is she just forced to by the male
You won't always see fighting. It will be bullying. Not letting the other have food or water or a basking spot, etc. it's not always an obvious fight. It could just be the fact that they are together that will stress them out. There are all kinds of threads of why tortoises should not be kept in pairs. A 4x10 is not big enough when a 4x8 is the minimum for one Russian. Your female may be too stresssed to want too breed. Making it bigger and safer for her may help you get to the breeding faster. The water dishes look too small also. The one with the ramp is a tipping hazard and not recommended and they both look too small for the tort to get its whole body in and soak if they want too.I am going to separate them when I see fighting I have a 4x10 foot I really want them to breed so far I haven’t seen any fighting
I fill their water bowls every day and feed them separately I’ve never seen an obvious sign of aggression probably because the boy is so lazy and is always hiding where as the girl likes to “explore” around and baskYou won't always see fighting. It will be bullying. Not letting the other have food or water or a basking spot, etc. it's not always an obvious fight. It could just be the fact that they are together that will stress them out. There are all kinds of threads of why tortoises should not be kept in pairs. A 4x10 is not big enough when a 4x8 is the minimum for one Russian. Your female may be too stresssed to want too breed. Making it bigger and safer for her may help you get to the breeding faster. The water dishes look too small also. The one with the ramp is a tipping hazard and not recommended and they both look too small for the tort to get its whole body in and soak if they want too.
The bowls are too small, not that you don't fill them. They should be big enough for their whole body to fit into. Not to the top of their shells but the whole width around.I fill their water bowls every day and feed them separately I’ve never seen an obvious sign of aggression probably because the boy is so lazy and is always hiding where as the girl likes to “explore” around and bask
For one
I can find a website that says martians live among us here on Earth. Or that eating 15 pomegranates a day will cure pancreatic cancer. Or that every computer in the world will crash on January 1st of 2000 and the whole world will fall into complete chaos.View attachment 236394 I’ve read this on a website