Today, while finishing off his spring mix, our male Russian tortoise (Mork) stood tall, curved his long tail beneath his plastron, and protruded his penis. He kept it out there for a couple of minutes, then withdrew it again, and walked over to his hot-spot to bask under the CHE. Now my question is, why did he protrude his penis like that? The female was not around (she has her own separate pen), and he did not hibernate this past winter. Is he in the mood to mate, or was he just stretching? Have any of you ever observed this kind of "undirected" penis protrusion in Russians or other tortoises before?
