Desert tortoise fertility?

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egyptiandan

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Travis he is a Desert/Texas tortoise hybrid. He has the shell shape of a Texas tortoise and colors and the head and legs of a Desert tortoise. :)

Danny
 

Shelly

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My original question is still unanswered.. Is there an age when desert torts are no longer fertile??
 

egyptiandan

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Technically no ;) A female tortoise can produce eggs up until she passes away. A male can produce sperm up until he passes away.
This though is in the wild, where animals don't usually get to a ripe old age. I have found though that elderly females do stop laying, not sure about males though.
Hard to say why your female isn't laying. She may not have enough extra weight to produce yolks (yolks are just fat and if the body doesn't have fat reserves a female won't produce yolks). She may not be getting enough calcium to shell eggs. She may be laying and you have never seen her nest or found a nest. She could have an underlying problem or infection that is stopping her from laying.
There are so many things that could be happening. Just because you have a male and female, that doesn't guarantee that you will get eggs.

Danny
 

lgdpt

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Wow Danny! I didnt expect that. Thats pretty incredible. Do you really think he is the result of a texas and a CA breeding? Or do you just mean he looks like a mix of the two? (Sorry if thats a stupid question)

This is VERY interesting!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the response. I really apreciate it. (My brother is going to be SHOCKED!!!)

Shelly said:
My original question is still unanswered.. Is there an age when desert torts are no longer fertile??

Shelly, sorry to hijack your thread....
 

egyptiandan

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You can't look like the 2 unless one parent was a Texas tortoise and the other parent was a Desert tortoise :p

Danny
 

lgdpt

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Gotcha.

For some reason I didnt think they could successfully breed. I guess Mr T proves that theory wrong.

Is this a rare tort? Or is it common for Texas and Deserts to mate?
 

egyptiandan

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Hybrids are thankfully pretty rare. :D

Danny
 
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