I am in need of everyone's vast expertise.
As some of you may recall a few weeks ago I got a pair of tortoises - sold to me as Greeks, but which turned out to be Russians - one male, one female. According to the previous owner, they have been together for over a year. Anyway, within a few days they had adjusted to their new home quite nicely. They eat well and are reasonably active as far as this inexperienced keeper can tell so far. In that time there was no aggressive behavior or attempt to mate by the male (Archimedes). After about a week that changed. For the last couple weeks he chases the female (Calypso) around quite a bit each day, making all of the classic mating overtures. He mounts her on occasion, though I'm not sure if he has any actual success. On a couple of occasions he has ceased the chase, only for Calypso to then follow him until he resumed. I took that to be a sign that she was interested and that he was not being overly aggressive. The last two days, however, as soon as I feed them their daily meal she rushes immediately from her burrow to the food, with him close at her heels. Only, he isn't interested in eating, he's interested in mating, and he makes it nearly impossible for her to eat. Today I took him out of the enclosure for a little while so that she could eat in peace.
Okay, so on to the questions:
1. Is all of this fairly normal?
2. At what point should I be worried about the aggressive behavior?
3. At what point should I consider separating them?
4. If it comes to separation, should I build a second enclosure and permanently separate them? Or should I simply limit the amount of time they are together?
This is my first experience with tortoises, and I am beginning to think that just getting one would have been the smarter choice, but I was impatient to get started. And I would love to have hatchlings if their mating is successful.
Oh, and just to throw it in there, he is 5" SCL, she is 6.5".
Thanks in advance!
Travis
As some of you may recall a few weeks ago I got a pair of tortoises - sold to me as Greeks, but which turned out to be Russians - one male, one female. According to the previous owner, they have been together for over a year. Anyway, within a few days they had adjusted to their new home quite nicely. They eat well and are reasonably active as far as this inexperienced keeper can tell so far. In that time there was no aggressive behavior or attempt to mate by the male (Archimedes). After about a week that changed. For the last couple weeks he chases the female (Calypso) around quite a bit each day, making all of the classic mating overtures. He mounts her on occasion, though I'm not sure if he has any actual success. On a couple of occasions he has ceased the chase, only for Calypso to then follow him until he resumed. I took that to be a sign that she was interested and that he was not being overly aggressive. The last two days, however, as soon as I feed them their daily meal she rushes immediately from her burrow to the food, with him close at her heels. Only, he isn't interested in eating, he's interested in mating, and he makes it nearly impossible for her to eat. Today I took him out of the enclosure for a little while so that she could eat in peace.
Okay, so on to the questions:
1. Is all of this fairly normal?
2. At what point should I be worried about the aggressive behavior?
3. At what point should I consider separating them?
4. If it comes to separation, should I build a second enclosure and permanently separate them? Or should I simply limit the amount of time they are together?
This is my first experience with tortoises, and I am beginning to think that just getting one would have been the smarter choice, but I was impatient to get started. And I would love to have hatchlings if their mating is successful.
Oh, and just to throw it in there, he is 5" SCL, she is 6.5".
Thanks in advance!
Travis