Cool responses, guys! Looking forward to seeing what Mick might have to say.
BTW - Ryan, what part of the country do you live in?
BTW - Ryan, what part of the country do you live in?
dmmj said:To help settle the mystery, mine were all rescues Origin unknown. The male I have had the longest loves to mate though.
Tom said:Well the mystery deepens. Seems like the people who simulate wild conditions the most are having the LEAST amount of success. That's a surprise.
To recap:
Ryan just leaves his inside all the time and they self impose a light hibernation even though temps and light cycles don't change much. He has great breeding success.
Neltharion leaves his outside most of the year in Northern CA, and does a short indoor cooling period and has great breeding success.
Emysemys is fairly close to Neltharion and does it nearly the same, but has no breeding success at all.
GB does a mix of indoors and outdoors, with a hibernation, and has mixed results.
My friend Ken leaves his 1.4 group outdoors year round with a "natural" hibernation, here in Southern CA, and after several years has had no success.
I PM'd Mick. Can't wait to hear what he has to say.
Jacqui and her friend in Nebraska do not hibernate, but do have breeding success. Jacqui, we need still more details on your routine. Pretty please...
I'm just not seeing any commonalities that would explain this... Anyone else? Here's a possible theory: Origin and different types of russians.
Around two years ago Danny did a thread listing the three russian subspecies. I was met with much debate and the thread died without much conclusion. Some said thera are no subspecies and just slightly different appearances from different regions of the range. Is it possible that there ARE different types from throughout the range, whether they are true subspecies or not, and that these different types will not interbreed very well?
Will everyone listed above please do their best to list their tortoises source and origin if it is known? Maybe Ryan and Neltharion bought all adults that all came in in one shipment all from the same geographical region. Maybe Yvonne has acquired several types over the years as rescues and they are from different regions. I know my friend Ken has just bought his one at a time over the years from different sources. Two or three are CBB and his latest one is WC. If this theory IS correct we might be on our way to solving the mystery.
Tom said:Around two years ago Danny did a thread listing the three russian subspecies. I was met with much debate and the thread died without much conclusion. Some said thera are no subspecies and just slightly different appearances from different regions of the range. Is it possible that there ARE different types from throughout the range, whether they are true subspecies or not, and that these different types will not interbreed very well?
Will everyone listed above please do their best to list their tortoises source and origin if it is known?
Tom said:Jacqui and her friend in Nebraska do not hibernate, but do have breeding success. Jacqui, we need still more details on your routine. Pretty please...
GBtortoises said:Well, I haven't been to the Southwest, but I'm guessing with some artificial hibernation they would breed well outdoors there. I have been to Colorado several times at different times of the year visiting relatives and I don't see Russians being successfully bred there on a regular basis. Where in the U.S., if at all, is there bitter cold dry conditions for most of the year that turns to extreme heat almost instantly and only for 3-4 months before ending in a brief rainy fall then back to winter? None that I know of and if so I don't want to live there anyway! I did live in North Dakota for 2.5 years about 30 years ago and as I recall, it was pretty darn close to the climate description above!
All the other Testudo species breed pretty well almost everywhere in the U.S.