Stupid Question

[Wirewehear]

but I have to ask anyway. Do females lay eggs even if no male is present, or in my case a non-functioning male? You know ... like hens will lay non fertile eggs? Not sure if Moe is female but previous owner claims she is and I think its a good chance he's right. So was curious about it.
And by the way .... weighed Moe. 43lbs. She gained 6 lbs in 6mos. Slow ... normal? And has grown an inch in diameter. 18 x 16

 

[kimber_lee_314]

I don't have a sulcata, but several of my females, especially my Texas tortoise, lay eggs whether there is a male around or not.

 

[dmmj]

there are no stupid questions only dumb answers, in this case I do believe they will sometimes lay eggs without a male around but not often. A chicken fertilizes her eggs differently than a tortoise.

 

[N2TORTS]

There is never a stupid question ....... " Life is Learning".....
so here ya go '.......
What your speaking of is called Cryptic female choice.
The ability to store and separate sperm from multiple males enables females to manipulate paternity by choosing which sperm fertilize their eggs, a process known as cryptic female choice. Evidence for this ability exists in many different animals.Cryptic choice allows females to preferentially choose sperm. Females are thus able to mate multiple times and allocate sperm to their eggs according to paternal phenotype, or according to other characteristics.Females can choose sperm based on male quality as a function of its interaction with the environment. Males of this species have developed behaviors, such as abdominal tapping, to increase their number of sperm stored in the favored storage site. Evidence for this pattern of storage, cryptic choice, and male behavior also exists in insects as well such as the flour beetle.
Antagonistic co evolution is the relationship between males and females where sexual morphology changes over time to counteract the opposite's sex traits in order to achieve the maximum reproductive success. This has been compared to an arms race between sexes. In many cases, male mating behavior is detrimental to the female's fitness. For example, when animals reproduce by means of traumatic insemination, it is very disadvantageous to the female's health. During mating, males will try to inseminate as many females as possible. However, the more times a female's abdomen is punctured, the less likely she is to survive. Females that possess traits to avoid multiple matings will be more likely to survive, resulting in those morphologies being retained in future generations. In males, genitalia are relatively simple and more likely to vary among generations than female genitalia. This results in a new trait that females have to counter in order to survive.
Females who possess traits where they can lessen the impacts of male behavior will be more likely to survive and reproduce. There are many methods that females have evolved over time to "defend" themselves against the onslaught of potential mates. One such development is alternative sperm storage sites, such as seminal receptacles, spermathecae, and pseudospermathecae, that are complex and extremely variable to allow for more choice in sperm selection. In some cases, sperm storage sites can produce proteses that break down various proteins in male seminal fluid resulting in female selection in sperm.
At the microscopic level, Drosophila males have differing sperm tail lengths that correspond to various sizes of female seminal receptacles.Longer male sperm tail length has shown a greater reproductive success with a larger female seminal receptacle while sperm with short tail lengths have been found to be more successful in smaller seminal receptacles.
So..... lengthy as it is, I hope this gave some insight to "sperm retention" within our shelled friends.
JD~
"LIFE IS BETTER UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE"

 

[Wirewehear]

JD .... bravo, *very* interesting and understandable. I really appreciate the time you took for me.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have a box turtle and a RES who laid eggs for 5 and 7 years after I got them with no male involved and none of the eggs were fertile

 

[Az tortoise compound]

There is never a stupid question ....... " Life is Learning".....
so here ya go '.......
What your speaking of is called Cryptic female choice.
The ability to store and separate sperm from multiple males enables females to manipulate paternity by choosing which sperm fertilize their eggs, a process known as cryptic female choice. Evidence for this ability exists in many different animals.Cryptic choice allows females to preferentially choose sperm. Females are thus able to mate multiple times and allocate sperm to their eggs according to paternal phenotype, or according to other characteristics.Females can choose sperm based on male quality as a function of its interaction with the environment. Males of this species have developed behaviors, such as abdominal tapping, to increase their number of sperm stored in the favored storage site. Evidence for this pattern of storage, cryptic choice, and male behavior also exists in insects as well such as the flour beetle.
Antagonistic co evolution is the relationship between males and females where sexual morphology changes over time to counteract the opposite's sex traits in order to achieve the maximum reproductive success. This has been compared to an arms race between sexes. In many cases, male mating behavior is detrimental to the female's fitness. For example, when animals reproduce by means of traumatic insemination, it is very disadvantageous to the female's health. During mating, males will try to inseminate as many females as possible. However, the more times a female's abdomen is punctured, the less likely she is to survive. Females that possess traits to avoid multiple matings will be more likely to survive, resulting in those morphologies being retained in future generations. In males, genitalia are relatively simple and more likely to vary among generations than female genitalia. This results in a new trait that females have to counter in order to survive.
Females who possess traits where they can lessen the impacts of male behavior will be more likely to survive and reproduce. There are many methods that females have evolved over time to "defend" themselves against the onslaught of potential mates. One such development is alternative sperm storage sites, such as seminal receptacles, spermathecae, and pseudospermathecae, that are complex and extremely variable to allow for more choice in sperm selection. In some cases, sperm storage sites can produce proteses that break down various proteins in male seminal fluid resulting in female selection in sperm.
At the microscopic level, Drosophila males have differing sperm tail lengths that correspond to various sizes of female seminal receptacles.Longer male sperm tail length has shown a greater reproductive success with a larger female seminal receptacle while sperm with short tail lengths have been found to be more successful in smaller seminal receptacles.
So..... lengthy as it is, I hope this gave some insight to "sperm retention" within our shelled friends.
JD~
"LIFE IS BETTER UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE"

Great post JD!

 

[N2TORTS]

JD .... bravo, *very* interesting and understandable. I really appreciate the time you took for me.

Your very welcome ... Glad you and Mick enjoyed it.~

JD~

 

[Wirewehear]

I have a box turtle and a RES who laid eggs for 5 and 7 years after I got them with no male involved and none of the eggs were fertile

What did you do with the eggs, toss 'em? This weirds me out but if indeed Moe was able to start laying infertile eggs I considered scrambling them up for the dogs. Dont know why that is so different than cooking chicken eggs..... psycological I guess.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have a box turtle and a RES who laid eggs for 5 and 7 years after I got them with no male involved and none of the eggs were fertile

What did you do with the eggs, toss 'em? This weirds me out but if indeed Moe was able to start laying infertile eggs I considered scrambling them up for the dogs. Dont know why that is so different than cooking chicken eggs..... psycological I guess.

I left all the eggs in the incubator until all had exploded. I kept track of them until they all had exploded. There's no reason why you can't cook them up for the dogs.
It is psychological that's true.