Wild Leopard Breeding Season

[Levi the Leopard]

What is the breeding season for Leopard Tortoises in the wild?

What months of the year will the eggs hatch?

I'm trying to understand more about the hot, humid and rainy seasons they hatch into.

Thanks!!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Google helped me answer my own questions

..just took a while of searching, oy

 

[Sh3wulf]

It's like your teasing us! Lol

If you have the links you found, I would love to read the info.


Two kids, One husband, One Hines57, One Leopard Tortoise, and a room at the sanitarium lol

 

[kbaker]

You are wasting your time, unless you live in Africa.

If you support your tortoises, they will determine everything.

An example would be my Sulcatas. Their laying season starts in July and goes for 5 months. Another breeder I know, his season starts in January. We are both in the US.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Kbaker, the information isn't for breeding leopards myself but for a presentation I'm putting together.

All the info I could find pertained to captive breeding. It was very time consuming to search for breeding details on wild specimens.

I was able to find that breeding season is from May to October and the gestation period is between 9 and 14 months averaging 12.

I then used these months to determine what the weather is like during this time in regions where wild leopards are found.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

---

It's like your teasing us! Lol

If you have the links you found, I would love to read the info.


Two kids, One husband, One Hines57, One Leopard Tortoise, and a room at the sanitarium lol

After 3 hours of searching last night I only found 1 source.

I either suck at searching or there isn't much specific info out there.

I'm still going to look for more and will post links here for you.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[kbaker]

Cool. Then disregard my comments.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Re: RE: Wild Leopard Breeding Season

Cool. Then disregard my comments.

You were trying to help though, so thx anyway.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[wellington]

Send Tom a pm. As far as I know, he is still in Chicago or just got home. However, he still gets on the forum and answeres his pm's. He may know or he may be able to direct you to some good informative sites or articles?

 

[Yvonne G]

Also, don't forget north and south of the equator. The leopards in South Africa are on a different schedule from the ones in the north.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

http://www.south-africa.climatemps.com/ Some weather info I have found so far on SA. Still have lots to do but here is a peek for ya Sh3wulf

Barb, I emailed Tom but haven't heard back yet. I know he'll get to me when he can.

Thanks for the reminder Yvonne. I am planning to include all info I find.

 

[Neal]

It's hard to answer the question since the leopard tortoises populate a large area of Africa and are found in a variety of different types of climates.

If you don't already have it I would recommend the Leopard and African Spurred Tortoise Chelonian Library book. It is one of my favorites. http://www.amazon.com/dp/389973601X/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

The book will give you a little bit of insight into what you are looking for, but there is little information in the form of research that relates specifically to environmental conditions during the reproductive cycles of leopard tortoises that I have been able to find.

The book indicates that in South Africa, most of the egg hatching is done in March and April. Here in AZ, the eggs are laid during the monsoon season (beginning in late June usually), and that's when the eggs will hatch out the following year when kept in the ground. In general, the egg hatching season will correlate with the rainy season.

 

[Tom]

I'm sorry. I saw your email but I forgot it in the shuffle here. We've been working insane hours here. I've been neglecting poor barb too! Sorry guys. I love you both, but we just worked from 5pm until 1pm the next day trying to finish all the elements of this movie. I'm still a little out of it and flying home today. Our plane is delayed and I'm sitting it he terminal right now waiting after a hellish time trying to get the dogs through cargo with out having the airline regulations that are meant to make the dogs safe, actually kill or injure the dogs. I swear they asked and paid the wrong "consultants" when they drafted those rules. They talked to too many lawyers that have never even seen a dog, and not enough professional dog trainers.

Anyway, Neal already touched on your answer. Sulcatas occur across a relatively narrow band across Africa from Senegal to Sudan. The climate is pretty similar from one end to the other. This is according to my observations watching six random weather spots across the sulcata range for the last couple of years. Leopards however, occur all over the whole continent from North to South, except in the areas where sulcata occur, and a few other spots. This being the case, environmental conditions for "Leopards tortoises" can vary widely and enormously. From cold clammy weather in the tip of South Africa where I saw them in the Southern Hemisphere, all the way up to tropical desert like conditions in Ethiopia in the northern hemisphere. The weather and seasons for leopard tortoises is literally as variable as the weather for the entire African continent.

Wild sulcatas start hatching in early June with the start of the rainy season. For leopards it is going to depend where on the continent they are and what the weather and seasons are like there.

Does this help? Certainly makes it difficult to do a coherent presentation. I would rely heavily on the proof offered by dry captive conditions vs. the proof offered by humid/hydrated captive conditions.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Yes Neal and Tom you were helpful.

The climatemp link is pretty neat. You can enter any country and it gives you tons of info. I looked at a lot of the countries that leopards are found in to get some answers.

I am the guest speaker at the next CTTC meeting this friday. I'm presenting the hot and humid method for raising leopard tortoises. I have put together a power point presentation full of great stuff.
There are some people in the club who have already expressed to me that this "faster growth" must be detrimental to their health, hard on their organs and shorten lifespans. I was hoping to find some information showing that wild leopard hatchlings would have fast, smooth growth because of the hot and humid natural conditions and opportunities to stay well hydrated. If they grow fast and smooth in the wild how could it be bad in captivity, right?

I have a great case put together with many TFO examples and a real life example, too! My largest smooth leopard

---

@Tom, no worries. I'm not surprised you are busy!

Airlines are tough to deal with, I bet it was hectic.

 

[wellington]

Wow, Heather, that's great.. You go get em. Eventually, Toms way will be the only way. Hopefully in Toms life time. I'm sure he has a few good years left . Kidding Tom. Let us know how it goes.