help! :( (male looking to breed)

[dvalenti35]

Hi everyone,

I've had a russian for about 4 years now and before we got together my husband had him for another four. He always had a female friend up until about 3 years ago when unfortunately she died About 2 weeks ago he started acting strange and actually bit my toe! He has always been sociable and sweet and we usually let him roam around out of his enclosure once a week and soak him at least twice a week. I understand that maybe he is "in heat", as his vet and everyone I talk to have suggested but how long will this last? I feel bad that he is acting so vicious towards me when he never has before As soon as I walk in the room he starts running around with his mouth open ready to attack! If you can't predict how long it will last is there anything I can do to help him? I feel awful, we take excellent care of him but we can't seem to do anything about this.. thanks everyone!!
Dorothy

 

[wellington]

RE: help!

Hello and Welcome there is a member whose male tort got really miserable and lost weight because his male hormones were raging. She had the vet give him some kind of shot therapy and it helped. Someone may remember who it was, at this time I can't remember their name. I couldn't tell you how long it will last, not sure anyone can. This may sound sick or weird, but you might try giving him a rock or fake tort about his size and see if that helps settle his hormones. Others may have some ideas.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: help!

Hi Dorothy, and welcome to the Forum!!

Male Russian tortoises are pretty horny little guys. I would help him a whole lot if he had a nice, large outdoor habitat to roam around in. Then he would spend his days looking for that elusive female instead of having all that pent up sexual energy.

 

[JoesMum]

Giving your male a girl as company could be the worst possible thing to do. Your female died and I am afraid your male's attention could have been the cause.

Russians, in the wild, roam over a large territory, meet up to mate, and move on. They are largely solitary; they don't get lonely or pine. If kept as a pair the dominant tort will bully the subordinate one physically and/or mentally and this can lead to the decline of the subordinate one to the point wher it dies.

As you are finding, Russians don't fight nicely either. Biting is common and can draw blood. They are much better off kept alone in a large, preferably outdoor, enclosure once they mature. Groups of three or more can work in a very large outdoor enclosure with plenty of sight barriers.

I am the owner of the over sexed male referred to earlier. In Joe's case, his excessively high testosterone level (10 times normal it turned out) led to him constantly pacing, not eating and not drinking. He lost one third of his body weight and kept getting liver infections because he would not eat or drink. My vet gave him a testosterone implant of the type that they use in zoos when then need to keep groups of males together. It has made a huge difference.

Read more here

With your male, I feel that he just needs space... lots of it... outside. They rapidly outgrow indoor enclosures and letting them roam free round the house is not safe for him... or for you in this case.

 

[dvalenti35]

RE: help!

Hello and Welcome there is a member whose male tort got really miserable and lost weight because his male hormones were raging. She had the vet give him some kind of shot therapy and it helped. Someone may remember who it was, at this time I can't remember their name. I couldn't tell you how long it will last, not sure anyone can. This may sound sick or weird, but you might try giving him a rock or fake tort about his size and see if that helps settle his hormones. Others may have some ideas.

thanks i actually gave him a small shoe when i read this might help..but to no avail I will take him to the vet and see what he says

 

[dvalenti35]

RE: help!

Hi Dorothy, and welcome to the Forum!!

Male Russian tortoises are pretty horny little guys. I would help him a whole lot if he had a nice, large outdoor habitat to roam around in. Then he would spend his days looking for that elusive female instead of having all that pent up sexual energy.

ok i will try it, we live in NJ and have a large backyard..i'll try anything at this point!

 

[wellington]

I found the person I was talking about. You can read it here. Mother if you look for her latest thread on it, she tells about how long it helped, etc. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-48004.html

Good luck. Keep us updated and I would try everything possible before the injection.