Should female Radiated Tort lay eggs without males?

[mitchellr]

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since i last posted anything here. Good to be back!
My adult radiated tortoise (presumably female) 34cm (13,5") is mature enough to lay eggs, i dont have any males yet, my question is: shouldn't she be laying eggs even without males around? infertile eggs, just like iguana lay eggs to get it out of their system.



Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

Some do, some don't.

 

[Ketta]

Some do, some don't.

It's the same with birds!

 

[dmmj]

@Tom You have got some correct?

 

[Tom]

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since i last posted anything here. Good to be back!
My adult radiated tortoise (presumably female) 34cm (13,5") is mature enough to lay eggs, i dont have any males yet, my question is: shouldn't she be laying eggs even without males around? infertile eggs, just like iguana lay eggs to get it out of their system.

1. I don't know about radiata specifically, but tortoises in general do not lay when there isn't a male around. It can happen, but in my experience, it usually doesn't.
2. I have three large 14 year old female radiata that have never seen a male and they do not lay eggs.
3. I'm not sure 13.5" is large enough for a radiata to lay eggs. There is also an age requirement with them, as in, they won't breed until a certain age no matter what size they are. I think it was around 11 or 12 years old, but lets ask a couple of gentlemen who know far more about them than I do. @zovick @Sterant

 

[Sterant]

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since i last posted anything here. Good to be back!
My adult radiated tortoise (presumably female) 34cm (13,5") is mature enough to lay eggs, i don't have any males yet, my question is: shouldn't she be laying eggs even without males around? infertile eggs, just like iguana lay eggs to get it out of their system.



Thank you!

Hi There - 13.5" is big enough for her to be reproductive - How old is she and how much does she weigh? I think like most things in life, there are norms, and then there are the rare cases.

The rule of thumb for radiated tortoises, when talking about age and size for reproduction is 12.5" SCL and at least 10 years old. That being said, I have a 7.5 year old, 11.5"SCL female that nested twice last year and she is actively breeding right now.

I know of a couple females that produced viable eggs at 9 years old - eggs hatching while they were 10 years old. @zovick being the owner of at least one of them.

If you were to review the studbook statistics, it will show that the average age a female first produces viable young is 20. This is skewed a bit (in my opinion) from wild caught animals back in the 70's, but even with some error, it would be safe to say that 12 to 15 years old, for captive raised females (growing faster than wild) is a realistic expectation. Some will reproduce sooner.

I personally have not had a female radiated tortoise lay eggs prior to being exposed to a male, but I have always had males around. @zovick can give you a more statistically valid answer based on 50 years of experience. I have had other species of tortoise lay eggs prior to ever being exposed to a male (angulata for example).

I don't think you have anything to worry about either way. As @Tom mentioned, he has 3 adult females - all healthy, that have never nested.