Russian "Flashing" ?? What should we know?

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darthsmozers

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What a weird topic this will be.

As mentioned before here, we usually see him in the morning when he's ready to eat, but his most active times are while we're at work. Weekends are a chance to see what he really does all day, which is usually not much.

I'll also preface this by saying a week or so ago we changed out his old bedding (mix of aspen and what was left of the ReptiBark, as we learned here the bark is no good.) We got different opinions here about Aspen, and will consider changing to something that holds moisture better. But in the interest of being thrifty, we're going to use up what we've purchased first before changing again. We supplement with regular soakings and mistings. While Journey used to burrow a home right under the lamp, this time we got creative and buried his log so a home was already made for him, on the cooler end of the terrarium with an opening facing out to the warm area. We've noticed he's been more active, probably because he has to go from his home to the lamp and back again, whereas before he would sleep in his burrow under the lamp all the time.

All of that being said, yesterday (Sunday) was an extraordinarily active day for Journey. He ate all his greens, and rather then going back into his home for the day, he sat half in his home, half out, but facing out. Wide awake all day. We decided it would be a good opportunity to give him a soaking. No doubt, as usual, he did his normal bathroom stuff while soaking. After his soakings, he usually hurries back to his little burrows to hide, but this time he remained out and about, basking and walking around.

Here's the part that gave my wife a scare, and some lessons in tortoise biology. He was sitting in the entry of his log, and my wife sat down on the couch next to the terrarium. She likes to call his name and talk to him, and sometimes he will come over to her. She loves that. He started to come out of his log, then backed back in. We never saw him walk backwards before. Then, what looked like a bloody mess was underneath him. She freaked, and I rushed in to pick him up. I thought he had hurt himself and his insides were literally falling out. I dipped him in his food dish to try to clean him off, as there are remnants of calcium dust and pieces of bedding in his log sometimes. well, the insides retracted, and i think at one point I dropped him on his shell (only a few inches, onto the bedding). I grabbed a towel and put him in it, about ready to rush to the vet... when i stopped at the computer and did a quick Google search. And there we have it, we now know nothing was wrong, and Journey had decided to flash us a show of something we didn't even know he had: male sex organ. !!!

Needless to say, its funny now, but was scary at the time, for a few reasons. We're not educated on tortoise anatomy, as we've only had Journey since October and were told (PetSmart) that he was a year or less. (Thats obviously not the case if he's secually mature). We've also never seen this before. I also wondered if I did more harm than good in trying to help him. Now I know why he didn't seem distressed - he was just beign himself, apparently.

Questions for everyone:

What should we know from here on in about male Russians?

How often should we expect to be witnesses to his little shows?

What should we be aware of as far as health is concerned, particularly the chances of bedding, calcium dust, etc etc getting stuck to his organ while its retracting back inside him? Any adverse health effects to look for?

When do Russians become sexually mature? How old can Journey really be, and how can we better estimate his age?

Any other tips?


I'm sure this is a shock to all first time owners. Count us initiated.

Thanks!
 

GBtortoises

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First-if your tortoise was from Petsmart, he's 4" or over, which means he's well over a year old. Probably more like 5-10 years old, depending upon actual SCL size and other unknown environmental factors. They may have had him for for nearly a year, or he's been in captivity overall that long, but he's definitely much more than a year old if he's over 4" SCL.
Second-He's a mature male, breeding age and size. There is no really clear reason why male tortoises "flash", especially one that does it without a female present. Males that do it with females present do so most likely because they pick up the scent and/or sight of a female. The rest we should be self-explanatory!
Third-No harm done as long as his phallus is retracting back into the clocoal opening itself. There should be no reason to assist him if this is the case. If for some reason it is not retracting on it's own then you may have a problem with a prolapse. Many keepers have dealt with that by assisting in some way, depending upon the situation, or referring to a veterinarian for assistance. That's only if he is unable to retract it on his own.
If he continues to display his organ on a regular basis it is a good idea to keep a close eye on him, checking regularly for any unusual swelling in the area, debris and so on. Rough or sharp substrate material can cause undo irritation, possible infection and swelling. Usually though there is little problem. They do the same outdoors and very likely in nature all the time so contact with substrate materials is very common.
 

darthsmozers

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Good info and reassurance, thanks.
Re: PetSmart, this is an addition to a long line of false (intentional or not) information they sold us on as we didn't know any better. (Substrate, lighting, enclosure, age, diet, etc) We've learned much from this community since then, and thank you for the additional information above.
 

darthsmozers

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Another question - at a sexually mature age, is the instinct to reproduce seasonal (i.e. its currently springtime) or constant?
 

GBtortoises

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If the tortoise were to go through a natural seasonal cycle outdoors: spring, summer, fall, hibernation and back to spring the mating urge would be primarily (although not exclusively) bi annual. In other words, your tortoise would have strong urge to mate in the spring shortly after out of hibernation and this would continue sometime into early summer, depending upon female availability. It would then likely attempt to breed again in the early fall to mid fall. That's a very general example. There are many variables that can alter that such as the environment that your tortoise is being kept in. General climate, temperatures, humidity, daylight duration and other factors all play a part in triggering a tortoise.
Indoors the tortoise's senses are triggered by artificial stimuli as in the lights, heat, humidity, food and cage mates that we the keepers are the controllers of. Indoors attempted mating usually takes place much more frequently and not necessarily on a regular routine. Indoor stimuli often confuse tortoises into thinking it's mating season several times throughout the year. Regardless of whether indoors or outdoors the introduction of a female will usually jump start a male into breeding mode because a new prospect has entered his territory.
 
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