Hi. I have a pair of Hermann’s. The male I got as a hatchling nearly 10 years ago. The female was purchased as an adult a couple years later. They have lived together peacefully this entire time and mate regularly. The female lays an egg or two every few months and I will incubate them and 100% of the time they rot or explode. When I candle them, there is just clear liquid, I have never seen any signs of life. My husband and I have spend nearly the past decade trying to figure out why this is. AFAIK we are doing everything right as far as housing, feeding, and the incubating itself. One of our theories is that because the male is average-small and the female is very large (over 10 inches) that they are not mating properly, but I’m not sure if that makes a difference. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!
Hermann’s Decade Of Infertile Eggs
- Thread starter amrkizer2
- Start date
I know you think they are housed properly and that they get along great. However, do you realize they should not be housed in pairs as it's very stressful on them to share their space with another tortoise. They wouldn't do that if they had a choice.
Try separating them into their own enclosure. Once they have gotten used to the fact the stress tortoise is no longer there, maybe the female will be able to produce vital eggs.
During breeding season, you put them together under supervision for a few hours a day and then put them back into their own enclosures.
Another thing to try is listing all your temps and what you are using for lights and heat and size of enclosure. Also what the diet is. Post pics. Maybe we can find other reasons that may be affecting them other than the living in a pair stress
Try separating them into their own enclosure. Once they have gotten used to the fact the stress tortoise is no longer there, maybe the female will be able to produce vital eggs.
During breeding season, you put them together under supervision for a few hours a day and then put them back into their own enclosures.
Another thing to try is listing all your temps and what you are using for lights and heat and size of enclosure. Also what the diet is. Post pics. Maybe we can find other reasons that may be affecting them other than the living in a pair stress
Wellington hit the high points. They should never live in pairs.
Are they housed indoors or outside? I've always wondered if the extreme heat there hampers breeding, but other people in your area appear to get babies regularly from their outdoor housed Testudo.
One way to test out what is wrong would be to add another female. If both females lay infertile eggs, then you know the male is not getting the job done for one reason or another. If the new female produces offspring, then you know something is wrong with the current female. With quarantine and cycling, this method will take a long time, but I don't know how else you'd figure it out.
Separating them might solve the problem. The chronic stress of living as a pair might be the problem. Keeping them separate with brief visits for breeding periodically, is a much better way to go for both of them. Or keep them in a group with one male and 2-3 females.
Also, how are you handling and incubating the eggs? What temps, what media, how much moisture, do you know to never rotate or turn the eggs? When and where are the eggs being laid? If its outdoors in summer, the eggs are probably getting too hot and this will kill the embryo inside. My summer layers lay in the late evening and into the night and I only dig up the eggs at night or early morning when daytime highs are over 90 degrees.
Every time I visit this site and read the advice given in the various threads, I am just so glad to be a part of it, and realize what an awesome source of sound information it is! In this case, the fact that tortoises should not be kept in pairs, and the many reasons why.
No, this is is an utterly factual post! 🤔
