Hi:
DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IS GOING ON:
My newest Russian female (neighbor gave her to me around 3 weeks ago) acts like she is hyperactive. She is almost the size of my grown Russian females, however, she is still growing as she has a growth ring. She doesn’t walk – she runs. She eats super fast. Everything she does seems in warp speed compared to my other tortoises.
She is very personable towards me. She follows me around the enclosure. She stands on her back feet and puts her front feet on my leg, stretching her neck up looking at me, begging for a treat.
My only complaint with her is that she seems to be somewhat of a bully towards my other Russian tortoises. My male Russian wanted to mate with her today and she became somewhat aggressive towards him. My male Russian is not aggressive during mating. (I have heard Russian males can be very aggressive during mating towards the female.) When she became aggressive my male backed off and she ran away. A week ago she acted like she wanted to mate with him (head bobbing, staying close to him), however, at that time he did not seem interested.
If it wasn’t for the fact that my husband saw my male mate with my oldest female last year, I would think that he didn’t know what to do or he was too old or something else was wrong with him. I have seen him approach my other three females, but he doesn’t pursue them if they want to get away (my other three females are not aggressive at all).
QUESTIONS:
Has anyone seen a tortoise act like I have described my new female with her running everywhere, eating fast, etc? Is it perhaps her age, although I have a 3-year-old Russian and he doesn’t act like that.
Also, will she stop being a bully? She was the only tortoise that my neighbors had (they had her for about one year). They bought her from a man who was selling around 5 or 6 Russian tortoises in front of the pet store.
I spend a lot of time observing her and my other tortoises and I intervene when I see her act like a bully. I tap the top of her shell and push her back. I am hoping that she will think it is the other tortoise fighting back and that she will learn to leave them along. As mentioned above, I have only had her for around 3 weeks and I am hoping that she will settle in and behave herself.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated regarding her strange behavior. If anyone has any feedback regarding the mating behavior of my male I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Carol
DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IS GOING ON:
My newest Russian female (neighbor gave her to me around 3 weeks ago) acts like she is hyperactive. She is almost the size of my grown Russian females, however, she is still growing as she has a growth ring. She doesn’t walk – she runs. She eats super fast. Everything she does seems in warp speed compared to my other tortoises.
She is very personable towards me. She follows me around the enclosure. She stands on her back feet and puts her front feet on my leg, stretching her neck up looking at me, begging for a treat.
My only complaint with her is that she seems to be somewhat of a bully towards my other Russian tortoises. My male Russian wanted to mate with her today and she became somewhat aggressive towards him. My male Russian is not aggressive during mating. (I have heard Russian males can be very aggressive during mating towards the female.) When she became aggressive my male backed off and she ran away. A week ago she acted like she wanted to mate with him (head bobbing, staying close to him), however, at that time he did not seem interested.
If it wasn’t for the fact that my husband saw my male mate with my oldest female last year, I would think that he didn’t know what to do or he was too old or something else was wrong with him. I have seen him approach my other three females, but he doesn’t pursue them if they want to get away (my other three females are not aggressive at all).
QUESTIONS:
Has anyone seen a tortoise act like I have described my new female with her running everywhere, eating fast, etc? Is it perhaps her age, although I have a 3-year-old Russian and he doesn’t act like that.
Also, will she stop being a bully? She was the only tortoise that my neighbors had (they had her for about one year). They bought her from a man who was selling around 5 or 6 Russian tortoises in front of the pet store.
I spend a lot of time observing her and my other tortoises and I intervene when I see her act like a bully. I tap the top of her shell and push her back. I am hoping that she will think it is the other tortoise fighting back and that she will learn to leave them along. As mentioned above, I have only had her for around 3 weeks and I am hoping that she will settle in and behave herself.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated regarding her strange behavior. If anyone has any feedback regarding the mating behavior of my male I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Carol