Lobatse hingeback

[MatteoV]

This is my group Lobatse hingeback.
It 'consists of one male and two adult females.
One of the females is really huge.
They are wc and come from South Africa..
I keep them in an outdoor enclosure from June / July until September (when the minimum temperatures are higher than 60 ° F) and transfer it to an indoor terrarium during the cold months.


I have a problem with the reproduction of these tortoises.
The female don't digs a hole for the eggs, it places them on the surface and immediately after it breaks them. It 'already two years that this event happens.
For next year I want to try this solution: use a substrate with a thick coat of dry leaves so that they could protect the eggs.
If you have any suggestions are welcome.

Adult male:

Adult female:

The largest female:

 

[AnthonyC]

Sono molto belle! Quanti anni hanno loro?

 

[Weldd]

Beautiful!!!

Have you had babies yet?

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Ok. I posted a reply too quickly.

Do the females lay while they are outside or when they are in their indoor enclosure? I do think that moving them from outside to inside may be confusing but I know a lot of people do that with good success. The one suggestion I would have is to provide the deepest loose substrate you can. Hopefully, the longer you have them the more accustomed they will be to their enclosure and they will be more likely to dig a proper nest...

 

[Weldd]

Matteo, I have one other question...did you have any problems acclimating your Lobatse? Specifically de-parasitizing them?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Nice picture.

 

[Jacqui]

All three are housed together correct? What if you had her by herself? I would think one tortoise stomping around has less of a chance of breaking eggs then three would.

Does she not show an extra amount of restlessness near her time? Any other sign she is thinking of nesting?

What is your substrate? Sorta looks a bit toward the dry side, is it? Can it hold up even for her to nest? Does she even try to nest?

 

[MatteoV]

Sono molto belle! Quanti anni hanno loro?

Thank you! I do not know the age of these animals, the male looks very old.

Beautiful!!!

Have you had babies yet?

---

Ok. I posted a reply too quickly.

Do the females lay while they are outside or when they are in their indoor enclosure? I do think that moving them from outside to inside may be confusing but I know a lot of people do that with good success. The one suggestion I would have is to provide the deepest loose substrate you can. Hopefully, the longer you have them the more accustomed they will be to their enclosure and they will be more likely to dig a proper nest...

---

Unfortunately I was not able to take eggs intact.
They lay their eggs in the terrarium, the laying period is October / November and it's cold outside (at this time there is a minimum temperature of 27°F)

Matteo, I have one other question...did you have any problems acclimating your Lobatse? Specifically de-parasitizing them?

Yes, I had some trouble acclimating these animals.
Basically I had two problems (these were related to each other), the first problem is that these tortoises are fed exclusively with fruit and mushrooms and refused leafy vegetables.
For this reason I have started to spread the vegetables (dandelion, chicory, endive etc.,) with a puree of melon. Then I reduced the amount of melon until they began to eat only vegetables.

The second problem is that they were heavily parasitized by flagellate protozoa that causes diarrhea and inflammation of the urinary tract (urine smelled a lot).
Treatment was given via subcutaneous injections metronidazole (deflamon) and orally (Flagyl).
There have been many treatments to eradicate the flagellates, this caused a decrease of the intestinal flora and the animals continued to have diarrhea.
So I administered daily probiotic bacteria specific to reptiles (nutribac) and the situation has slowly returned to normal.

All three are housed together correct? What if you had her by herself? I would think one tortoise stomping around has less of a chance of breaking eggs then three would.

Does she not show an extra amount of restlessness near her time? Any other sign she is thinking of nesting?

What is your substrate? Sorta looks a bit toward the dry side, is it? Can it hold up even for her to nest? Does she even try to nest?

I keep them together during the year, when the females are pregnant I divide them from other specimens. I move them individually in polyethylene containers with a thick layer of substrate (I use peat moss).
This method works well for bell's hingeback (they dig a deep nest of about 6 ") but not for my lobatsiana.
Unfortunately, the female does not digs a nest, I realize that is gravid for the weight gain and palpating the eggs.
I use a dry peat moss substrate in the terrarium

 

[ForestExotics]

Nice love them!