Breeding Russian torts

[rocky1998]

How easy is it to breed russian torts ? I want to know because in future I might want my Russians to have babies

 

[Tom]

They are an unusual species in that its very hit or miss. I know people that do everything "right" and year after year, no babies. I know others that just throw some together haphazardly and get all sorts of babies every year. All you can do is try. Generally speaking you only want one male and 2-4 females to an enclosure. However, some people just put a bunch of them of mixed sexes in a large outdoor enclosure and they do just fine.

Just be aware that they are a very scrappy species, and you will likely have to separate one or more of them at some point. They are also a species that like a lot of room and crowding them into a small enclosure is usually not good. I recommend a minimum of 4x8' for an indoor adult group, so be prepared to have several 4x8' enclosures in your house if you go down this road.

 

[lynnedit]

Do a search on our forum. While some are very successful, I think the general opinion is that it isn't easy. Conditions have to be right. Keepers in warmer climates seem to have more luck?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

My fingers are crossed that I'll have easy Russian breeding!

I'll get back to you in a few years on how "easy" I find it to be

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Tortoise]

I have a group of Russians here in Canada.I have had them since March 2013.
2 males and 4 females.I have to keep the males apart, they are very scrappy for sure.
I got eggs 13 days ago-7 of them.I see veins in 6 for sure.
These will probably be my first eggs to hatch (also trying to incubate pancakes and a red foot egg)
Its been a fun year with our first tortoise eggs-now the wait!!

I'm not sure what the secret is as you don't see many Russian babies here at all.
Best of luck-I hope you are productive if you decide to breed Russians.
I wouldn't want less than 2 females with any Russian male-I have 4 and he still chases them around enough at times.
I have to rely on lots of time indoors here due to weather so I provide as much space as I can 8 ft by 4 ft pens.

 

[Baoh]

I kept them in a temperate climate in a large enclosure packed with weeds, large stones and hollow logs for site barriers, and a small to mid-size tree in the center. I had a large-ish group in a large space. Two males made for plenty of insemination. I probably could have gotten away with just one male, but I was hedging my bets. I let the eggs incubate in the ground only because of the risk of my father being likely to unplug incubators. I let them hibernate outside. I did not have to feed them or do much of anything other than collect babies when I saw them, but I would toss them scraps and cuttlebone pieces every so often. Same for most of my Testudo species I kept at the time.

 

[Tortoise]

I kept them in a temperate climate in a large enclosure packed with weeds, large stones and hollow logs for site barriers, and a small to mid-size tree in the center. I had a large-ish group in a large space. Two males made for plenty of insemination. I probably could have gotten away with just one male, but I was hedging my bets. I let the eggs incubate in the ground only because of the risk of my father being likely to unplug incubators. I let them hibernate outside. I did not have to feed them or do much of anything other than collect babies when I saw them, but I would toss them scraps and cuttlebone pieces every so often. Same for most of my Testudo species I kept at the time.

Wow that's quite the contrast to my mostly indoors set up.
Its great to see you replicate a more natural set up and have a climate you can work with.
I go to the trouble of dehydrating weeds for sprinkling over the store greens and growing my own huge cacti plants that have to live indoors for 6 mths of the year etc.
My females dig and lay indoors as yet because I need to make a larger outdoor space to provide the nesting areas and plants etc.

Just shows how adaptable this species can be and gives hope to other keepers regardless of climate.
I will try to hibernate mine indoors(my only option) this year although they were not previously hibernated with the last owner.

Thanks for sharing your set up
very interesting

 

[Baoh]

You have to work things out however you can even if it means a radically different keeping style. Good results are the source of validity regardless of the means for this sort of thing.

Also, once you find something that works reasonably well for you, do not monkey with it too much.