Help!problem breeding and identification subsp.

[yannick]

I decided to make a post even If I posted in another post before just because I went and take pics of my group(Is there a possibility to identify them in the same time? Thanks!)...my 2 females are around 800g and my 2 males don't seem to be able to breed them...
they are trying...biting,slamming them and everything(they are very aggressive!!!) but when they try to mount them, the females just turn suddenly and don't let them do their buisness.
I also just put them for just a while with them as they are super aggressive,bitting off scales!
and I cannot leave the two males together for too long with the females as they will kill each other!
So I'm really wondering what could be wrong here?
Anyone has an idea?
Thanks a lot!

 

[terracolson]

i am hoping to breed mine as well.

I have the same issue with one of my males, but he does tire and leave them alone... he will mate with male of female, he doesnt care.

I hope to get a good answer to this as well.

did you see?
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-7507.html

 

[egyptiandan]

They all look like T.h.horsfieldii to me Yannick. I'm wondering if the females aren't big enough. How long are they (SCL)?

How are your T.g.graeca doing?

Danny

 

[terracolson]

my russian 6 inch shell is 600grams..

so i would think hers are big enough..

lets see

And i feel yannak is trying to say the girls are not allowing him to. am i right?

 

[egyptiandan]

Yup I got that Terra I'm just trying to whittle down possibilities.

Danny

 

[terracolson]

Yup I got that Terra I'm just trying to whittle down possibilities.

Danny

There i go again, talking out of turn and sounding stupid.. Sorry

 

[egyptiandan]

Your fine Terra and to go off topic for a minute Your female is about 200g to light Terra. She should be around 800g.

Danny

 

[terracolson]

I know she is to light, I am very worried about her, i got her that light and i posted about it, but i didnt get any one to tell me what to do...

 

[yannick]

Hi
Thanks Danny for the identification!
My females are almost 6 inches now and the males around 4.5 inches
The females really don't let them do...is it because they are not mature enough and if so when ready they will give the males a chance ?
My Greeks are doing great! Thanks!not too many babies this year tough!just 6 fertile eggs out of 20!
I guess I should cool them a bit longer in the fall to make them more fertile or is it just normal that some years are better than others?
Thanks

 

[egyptiandan]

Yes the females are just a wee bit to small. They need to be 6 inches on the nose and bigger to lay.

You shouldn't have to cool the males off for them to be fertile. Cooling off may even hurt their fertility. I think if you feed them well and give them and the females a break by keeping the males seperate for a month or 2 in the summer. Than the males should be raring to go in the fall.

Your welcome,
Danny

 

[yannick]

Hi
Thank you so much Danny!
I will let those females grow a bit until I try to put the males with them again...
Thanks again!
You 're always a great help !
Yannick

 

[-ryan-]

I have kept my male with my females for almost four years and he bred them regularly (even though he was only a little over 1.5 years old when he joined them). I've gotten a ton of eggs, and some of them have hatched (I am not very adept at using the incubator yet).

I agree that the females may still be too small, but also it might just be the fact that you are only giving them limited time with the male(s). I have separated my male from my females for the past month and been just introducing one female at a time, and I find that they are much better at resisting his 'moves'. However, I took him out because I wanted to give some of the new females some time to settle in. Also, the enclosure I don't feel is big enough for five adult russians.

Be patient. Also, I noticed you have cypress mulch as ground cover. What provisions have you made for nesting? The hardest time I had with initially getting eggs was getting the females on enough dirt that they would nest. I ended up having to put them in a stock tank with 8" of dirt, because they refused to use nest boxes and the like.

Very cool to hear of more people interested in breeding these little tortoises.