My tortoise is a chicken!

[Raymo2477]

Two of female Hermann's keep laying eggs. I took the male away months ago and they keep laying.

All have been incubated and been duds.

I just pulled two more out of the habitat this morning and placed them in the incubator.

Should I get another male to improve fertility? All of this male's eggs seem to be infertile.

I thought adding a male (during breeding time) could increase competition and sperm production.

Any thoughts????

 

[Yvonne G]

Let's ask @HermanniChris for his opinion on the subject.

I don't keep hermanni, but with my other species, I keep the male in with the females all the time. No problem with fertile eggs.

 

[HermanniChris]

And they will most likely continue to do so even without a male. There could be a few reasons as to why the eggs are duds and the male may be to blame. Adding another male will certainly increase your odds of better fertility and to be 100% honest, here, we keep multiple males with all of our Hermann's colonies. We also do this with all other European species bred here. We allow fighting, challenging and bullying because it's part of these tortoises' natural behavior. Males encounter each other constantly in nature, it stimulates them and is simply nothing less than natural. I attribute much of our success here to the multiple males playing roles in our colonies. However, it should go without saying that this practice can be dangerous. Males can inflict damage to each other and to other females. Females are even capable of this and it happens more often than one would think. Our tortoises receive 24/7 attention so this is why problems do not occur. We're just there to stop an impending issue, simply put. Housing multiple males for someone who can not be around most of the time can pose a problem. So, having an extra enclosure or 2 wouldn't hurt. Hope this helps!

 

[Yvonne G]

Thank you, Chris. I really appreciate you and your helpful nature.

 

[Raymo2477]

Thanks! Now I just need a healthy adult male eastern Hermann's tortoise....got any available????

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Thanks! Now I just need a healthy adult male eastern Hermann's tortoise....got any available????

Maybe try the for sale section?
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/for-sale.26/