Russians natural breeding

[andrew vickers]

First time on, I have male and female Russians and we live in S.W. Florida so they live outdoors year round. I have noticed the Male have sex with the female on occasion but not too violent, he doesnt pester her too much. I found a few test nests and did some digging and found nothing. About 4 months late I found a baby Russian in the water bowl, drown. So sad. I have since place a shallower bowl. Looked to be double the size of a newborn. My question is can you just naturally let these tortoise breed without incubation. Will the success rate be similar barring nest raids.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Andrew, and welcome!

That's sad about finding the drowned baby. That happened to me once before too. I see no reason you can't allow natural incubation of nests, but I would suggest keeping a close eye on the female and marking any nests you think may have eggs in them. It's a good idea to place some sort of wire basket around the nest so any babies that hatch can't escape before you find them. Birds think baby tortoises are wonderful food, so the wire basket should have a cover over it too.

Did you get down on your hands and knees and search for any more babies? There should be 4 to 6 eggs in a clutch, so a few more babies around in there. Look under everything and look for fresh turned earth.