Agressive male horsefield Help

[vernonthetort]

Hi, im new on here, and this is my first post so here goes:

The mrs wanted to buy a tortoise, and bought two in the local paper. She ended up with a male russian horsefield. He came in a tank which we have ditched and have gone for a tortoise table for the time being while inside and I have made a setup outside where vernon goes weather permitting.

Anyway I kept an eye out for a female to come up for sale, and on the fourth 'female' for sale, when i got there it was actually a female so i took it (all the others advertised as females were males when i turned up)

We brought her home and left her settle in before introducing her to the other tortoise. We put them outside together, and vernon the male was head bobbing straight away, and aggressively trying to bite the female. The female runs off, closely followed by vernon, like a wierd tortoise train round the garden. This happens every time I put them together.

Any ideas what to do, its probably worth saying the female is quite a bit bigger than the male, but much quieter and does not fight back just runs away

 

[Tracy Gould]

I am no expert but it sounds like he is trying to mate her i have read the male can be aggresive when trying to mate and he will continue till she gives in i know the head bobing is a horsefield mating thing

here is a link

http://www.thetortoiseshop.com/learn/breeding.phtml

 

[dmmj]

Males like to mate, I think they have mating amnesia, they may mate with a female and then the next time they see her, they think wow there is one I have not mated with yet. You will most likely either have to increase their enclosure size and lots of hides so the female has some place to escape or separate them, I don't see any other option.

 

[dolfanjack]

I know this sounds weird but YOUR LUCKY!. My male has ignored my new female. Infact she likes him more then he likes her. And I agree with the other post, seperate her from him or get some more females to reduce the harassment.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Vernonthetort:

Welcome to the forum!!

That's just the way it is with male Russian tortoises. If he beats her up too badly and you can't give her more visual barriers and hiding places to get away from him, then you'll have to separate them.

 

[Laura]

Yep.. its a boy.. welcome..
be prepared to have two seperate areas to house them and a incubator for eggs..
and i hope you can find Good homes for the hatchlings..

 

[vernonthetort]

Thanks for the help

I was a little worried as it seems a bit cruel to let her get beaten up.

Anyway from what iv read the next step is to get them both checked over at the vets, and a poo sample / treatment if needed.

Then i will need to sort out a proper setup where the female can dig to lay eggs before allowing them to mate

Anyone got any pics of their indoor setups for some inspiration for me

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

When I kept Horsfield's (Russians), my male, Loki, was so enthusiastic () that I finally had to keep 5 females in his enclosure just to keep him satisfied...w/ only 4, he still wanted more "romance" than was available!

My wife found him fascinating and loved to sit out by their enclosure and listen to his "passion squeaks"...

Russian tortoises are a marvel!

 

[BuffsTorts]

My female sometimes beats up on my male!
My male sometimes takes little nibbles on my females shell and will bob his head, but never when she seems to be in the mood, it is a funny balance I find between them.
My cages are 2 large cages attached with a big ramp, if seperation becomes necessary, all I need to do is remove the ramp and they are seperated.
PICS!

 

[fishtanker]

It sounds strange, but I can't find a large male anywhere. I have 9 females over 5 inches and 1 five inch male who only cares about eating. Oh well, maybe one day my boy will get the urge.