qtq_uwu
New Member
Hello all,
A little bit of context (not really necessary but figure probably doesn't hurt):
I've had two Russian tortoises for 10 years. I got them when I was really young and didn't take the best care of them, and only relatively recently have been doing my best to course-correct. I had always assumed they were female because the previous owner told us they were. However, when Katrina mounted my other tortoise (don't worry - they're separated now), I realized that I should double check. I know that mounting doesn't necessarily mean reproduction but can also be a dominance behavior, but I figured it's worth double checking. I took them to a reptile shop and they claimed that they were both male, but I'm not sure how much to trust them because they seemed unsure (first thinking they were both female, then 1.1, then both male) AND used some factually incorrect justifications to make the claim (such as that their plastrons were concave - a trait not found in Russian tortoises). I am pretty confident that the other tortoise is male; he's pretty typical in that regard. Not sure about Katrina though. What do you think?
Relevant information:
She is 7 inches long
She has never laid eggs but has recently been digging more than usual: could be that I recently upgraded her enclosure with a deeper substrate or could be more.
She mounted my other (likely male) tortoise and seemed to ejaculate? But could have been a poorly timed dispensing of urate. It was indiscernible from other urate stains I've seen.
A little bit of context (not really necessary but figure probably doesn't hurt):
I've had two Russian tortoises for 10 years. I got them when I was really young and didn't take the best care of them, and only relatively recently have been doing my best to course-correct. I had always assumed they were female because the previous owner told us they were. However, when Katrina mounted my other tortoise (don't worry - they're separated now), I realized that I should double check. I know that mounting doesn't necessarily mean reproduction but can also be a dominance behavior, but I figured it's worth double checking. I took them to a reptile shop and they claimed that they were both male, but I'm not sure how much to trust them because they seemed unsure (first thinking they were both female, then 1.1, then both male) AND used some factually incorrect justifications to make the claim (such as that their plastrons were concave - a trait not found in Russian tortoises). I am pretty confident that the other tortoise is male; he's pretty typical in that regard. Not sure about Katrina though. What do you think?
Relevant information:
She is 7 inches long
She has never laid eggs but has recently been digging more than usual: could be that I recently upgraded her enclosure with a deeper substrate or could be more.
She mounted my other (likely male) tortoise and seemed to ejaculate? But could have been a poorly timed dispensing of urate. It was indiscernible from other urate stains I've seen.
