Should I Breed???

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abclements

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Hi!

First off, I want to note that my Cherry Head is nowhere near breading age/size, I still can't tell its sex. But I'm really curious to see what you guys think!

I'm flopping with the idea of breeding my Cherry. I have one and my best friend has one as well. They're the same age, from the same breeder but but look completely different tail wise (I know things can change quickly but right now, one has a stubby little tail and the other has a larger longer tail.

I don't have enough room to house a colony of full grown adults (I might in the future but It's better to not plan for something that isn't a given) So this leads me to a couple questions:

1: In your experience, how easy is it to find homes for the babies?

2: Once I start breeding them, do I have to keep the female breeding? Or can I breed her once or twice, get a couple babies for myself and some close friends who have expressed interest in owning one since seeing mine, and then call it quits? Basically, Will bad things happen long term to my female if I only breed her once or twice?

I'm really interested in this and would really love to raise a couple torts from the very beginning! Thanks!!
 

jaizei

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Once the female is bred, she may (probably will) retain semen and be able to lay fertile eggs for years afterwards. It is not a simple on/off thing. If you didn't want anymore hatchlings, you could destroy the eggs right after they're laid - some people do not like the idea of destroying fertile eggs, no matter the development stage.

Personally, I would not do it if I knew I was not going to do it long term. If you want to raise a tortoise from the very beginning, you can usually arrange something with a breeder. Get a very young animal or perhaps even an egg to incubate yourself (but probably no guarantee on successful hatching).
 

abclements

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Ya I kinda figured that might be a problem. I'm not a huge fan of just destroying the eggs... Not really my philosophy... If I bring them into the world, they're staying as long as they choose lol

I currently have room for 3 or 4 (I'd have to build a larger enclosure but that's no big deal) and have a couple friends that would love to take one piece off my hands... Hmmm so I guess the only other option I have is to figure out how to sell them. Which idk how difficult or not that is...
 
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