Hello I'm new to the forum. Recently my male tortoise Ted has been biting the legs of my female tortoise Maya. Is he trying to mate with her or does he just dislike her? I've had them for over two years now and they are around 6-8 years old I guess. There hasn't been a problem between them until now so I separated them for the time being. Any thoughts?
My Male Tortoise Biting My Female Tortoises Legs
- Thread starter Chow
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This is normal male behaviour. Male Russian tortoises get VERY aggressive towards the female in order to subdue her into allowing him to mount.
So, if the male is hounding the female then you will want to maintain two enclosures so that the male does not hound the female and cause her stress...stress can cause illness in a tort...also, if the male is biting the female she can become injured and that is not a good thing either....are you housing male/female in hopes of breeding/selling tortoise for a profit?
I bought two tortoises as pets and they just happened to be male and female. They've been together for a while now, but the biting just came up recently. So should I just separate the enclosure or just let them mate? Will the aggressive behavior stop if they mate?
Well, you will need to decide what you are wanting to have on your hands....if you leave the male and female together as a pair...the male will more than likely pester the female so much so that you will end up with a sick tortoise on your hands....or the male will continue to bite at her relentlessly and cause her physical injury, which can then require you to take the tortoise to the vet for antibiotics--the car ride can be additionally very stressful....then there is the chance that the female will become egg bound (the chance increases based on the age/size of the female) once she is impregnated...and then if the female does successfully nest and leave you eggs..you will then need to decide to smash the eggs so no babies (people do this, I personally find it awful) or you can allow the eggs to take a natural course and you will surely eventually end up with babies...keep in mind, a female tortoise can lay multiple clutches of eggs per season...so begin to imagine lots of babies to care for and house....
So, I suppose the answer would be found within what your intentions are....if you are simply wanting to enjoy them as the awesome tenacious fun spirited tortoise they are...and if you want to provide the least stress possible...then I would opt for separate enclosures.....
So, I suppose the answer would be found within what your intentions are....if you are simply wanting to enjoy them as the awesome tenacious fun spirited tortoise they are...and if you want to provide the least stress possible...then I would opt for separate enclosures.....
Thank you. I'll try to separate the enclosures as quickly as possible. If Maya happened to already be impregnated, I'll make sure to care for the eggs properly. My tortoises' health and happiness is my number one priority.
Separate them. Even if your wish for fertile eggs, you do not want your female trapped with a sex maniac that only wants sex 40 times a day and will let nothing stand in his way!
To keep males and females together you need space for her to get away from him or 3 or more females for each male and a huge area for them to roam.
Good luck.
To keep males and females together you need space for her to get away from him or 3 or more females for each male and a huge area for them to roam.
Good luck.
@WillTort2 @ascott and @Yvonne G UPDATE: ok weeks after separating them I surprisingly found an egg today! I guess I was a little too late. Currently I have the egg in an incubator, and I kept the other tortoises separated. It should be an interesting experience.
I'm glad you separated them!!
Good luck! Good way to know if it's fertile is too hold it up to a bright light after a couple and see if you spot something inside.
mibblead
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Did you end up with a hatchling after? I'm having the same issue with my pair I'm needing to separate them ASAP because the male is constantly pestering my female :-(
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That's the way all males are !
mibblead
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My two have apparently lived together for a long time before I ended up with them and even after i got them they seemed lovely together but the biting and climbing over the female is getting worse, every time I checked on them today he was clambering all over her so tomorrow is the day i bite the bullet and separate them for good, at first I was considering adapting the enclosure I've only just set up for them to have separate areas to go but this would mean reducing the overall size of the enclose so now I've decided princess gets the enclosure they are currently in and George will be removed and put into an enclosure of his own, poor princess has had a dogs life off George the last few days and I can't stand by and watch her being bullied by him any longer, she seems to just completely ignore him as best she can but it can't be comfortable for her living like that so separate lives they have to lead from now on!
You already got good advice above: time to separate!
Here is a post that I wrote a while ago that may help:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...together-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.94114/
Here is a post that I wrote a while ago that may help:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...together-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.94114/
Excellent stuff above, take heed.
Russian males are wicked. I mean, Russian male tortoises.
Apologies Moscow.
Russian males are wicked. I mean, Russian male tortoises.
Apologies Moscow.
mibblead
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Thank you yes i read this somewhere online last night, I can't believe I have to separate them, they came to me as a pair and knew i had enough room for one enclosure so didn't see a problem with 'adopting' them but fear i don't have room to now house two separately, I'm off out today to see if i can bag myself a bookcase and see if i can fit it in somewhere! I used an old display unit to make the first one which is really big it's about the size of a single bed, if i can't find something that fits i might have to try and build one that's shaped around the other to get it to fit I'll be devastated if i had to find a new home for one of them!
Tortoises should never be kept in pairs. Especially not russians.
Thank you fot being willing to take steps to protect your female. If there isn't enough floor space, have you considered a vertical addition? Bunk style enclosures work really well. I have built enclosures into industrial garage storage shelves, which allows me to stack 4 enclosures that are 8ft x 2ft each. Until you are able to find a good permanent solution, you could also install a board down th middle. Having slightly less space for a while is better than being bitten and bullied all the time.
mibblead
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Thank you yes I've now added an extention on the end with a tunnel through to the main enclosure but separated the main one so they will be alongside each other but not able to get to each other unless i lift the barrier, almost finished dividing the main area now so hopefully they'll both be settled back in by tonight
