ready to breed??

[guille24]

hi guys !! today when i walk into my room i notice my female RUSSIAN tortoise was on top of my other female rt , it was making really funny and weird sounds and pretending she was ''breeding'', do u guys think shes ready to breed ?? or do u know why shes doing that ??

 

[kanalomele]

Sounds like a dominance issue between two females who maybe can't get away from each other. When girls become sexually mature they will do this occasionally, but. It is far more likely they dominant one is bullying the other one. Females also try to establish territories, and once they have one they will fight to defend it.

 

[guille24]

wooow i didnt know that ! thank u so much i think i'm gonna have to put them in different enclosures ,i dont want them to hurt each other :/ ,, the one tortoise that was on top pretending to be a male is about 4 and 1/4 inches big and the other one is huge its about 6 almost 7 inches do u think i should get a male for them ?

 

[surie_the_tortoise]

only if you want babies, if not then would just seperate them .

 

[guille24]

that would be awesome but unfortunately i don't have the knowledge ''yet '' to incubate eggs and take care of the babies i think i'm gonna have to wait a bit longer before i can try ,for now i think tomorrow morning i'm gonna separate them ,, thank u so much for all the info

 

[kanalomele]

Sorry I checked out for a few days. I've been sick and didn't follow this thread very well. If you are up for separate enclosures for them then great. That is the easiest and safest solution. Add a male and you are begging for trouble. Russian males are very agressive breeders. I regularly have to give my boy a time out in his naughty enclosure separate from the girls.

 

[guille24]

Sorry I checked out for a few days. I've been sick and didn't follow this thread very well. If you are up for separate enclosures for them then great. That is the easiest and safest solution. Add a male and you are begging for trouble. Russian males are very agressive breeders. I regularly have to give my boy a time out in his naughty enclosure separate from the girls.

sorry to hear that ! i hope u are better now ,, i had to separate my two russians because they where fighting a lot ! well actually it was just the smallest one fighting the big one and trying to get on top of her , it was pretending like if she was breeding but was dooing it all the time !! is that normal behavior for an almost five inch little russian torotise ?? the biggest tortoise never did anything like that and its almost 8 inches big

 

[WillTort2]

Are you certain that the smaller one is female?

 

[guille24]

yes it is, it has a really small tail , its really really short,

 

[kanalomele]

Sorry I checked out for a few days. I've been sick and didn't follow this thread very well. If you are up for separate enclosures for them then great. That is the easiest and safest solution. Add a male and you are begging for trouble. Russian males are very agressive breeders. I regularly have to give my boy a time out in his naughty enclosure separate from the girls.

sorry to hear that ! i hope u are better now ,, i had to separate my two russians because they where fighting a lot ! well actually it was just the smallest one fighting the big one and trying to get on top of her , it was pretending like if she was breeding but was dooing it all the time !! is that normal behavior for an almost five inch little russian torotise ?? the biggest tortoise never did anything like that and its almost 8 inches big

Thank you for the concern. Im getting better. Im still going with a dominance issue here. If your sure you have two girls then definately. Attitude comes in all sizes. A smaller tort with a stronger personality will bully just the same as a dominant chihuahua would bully a great dane. Its all about the internal sassy meter of the tort.

 

[GBtortoises]

There are a few reasons why female Russians (and other Testudo species) act like males in certain situations. If a male is not present and female in a group, usually (but not always) the largest, oldest female may take on the partial role of a male until one is present. This female may mount, even sometimes ram and bite at other females. Rarely ever with as much vigor or persistence as a mature male. The dominance is usually mild by comparison to a male. It is not territorial defense, that is pure fighting and chasing. Females are very, very rarely ever territorial. The exception being when somewhat crowded by other females prior to nesting. A female may defend her chosen nest spot from other females. That territorial defense goes away once the nesting is completed. A female will display dominate actions with another female if a male is present that is either not mature or is not yet interested in taking on the dominant role. A female displaying dominating characteristics, particularly mounting other females, around a male often provokes the male into the role of aggressor and will may result in sucessful breeding, which is what the female was trying to achieve. When no males are present in a group, a female that is ready to be bred will often act somewhat like a male, mainly by mounting other females, in an attempt to draw the attention of a male, despite one not being present.
Although it may often appear that a male is the one that makes successful breeding happen in truth it is always the female. Males will often continually attempt to court females by head bobbing, ramming, biting and mounting. But unless the female is ready and receptive, nothing is going to happen except that the male is going to constantly pursue the female making attempts. This is one of the main reasons in captivity, where space is limited, that male and female Russian tortoises (as well as some other Testudo species) should be kept seperate.