We have two Horsefields, got them both around the same time about a year ago and they were both under 12 months.  One is noticably growing more than the other is that a worry?  We wondered if one was male and one female and the female growing more slowly?

Also the smaller one now seems to have something !?!??! coming out from where its tail is, it is sort of brown and scaley but when I looked closer where it is coming out from its body pink and fleshy looking?

Does anyone have any ideas?  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

At under two years of age, they should not be sexable and I would say the most likely thing is that both have grown far too fast - pics will help. Females are larger but at two years of age should still be under 100 grams in weight, I suspect these are much bigger,. Hopefully you have been supplementing with a good D3 supplement as fast grown torts can be prone to prolapse etc. The fleshy object is a penis and your tortoises will have to be separated if you have one of each, as females become very stressed if kept singly with a male, especially if confined to small areas where she can not dig a burrow to escape his advances.

This is how I keep mine www.tortsmad.com/russians.htm

Sue

At under two years of age, they should not be sexable and I would say the most likely thing is that both have grown far too fast - pics will help. Females are larger but at two years of age should still be under 100 grams in weight, I suspect these are much bigger,. Hopefully you have been supplementing with a good D3 supplement as fast grown torts can be prone to prolapse etc. The fleshy object is a penis and your tortoises will have to be separated if you have one of each, as females become very stressed if kept singly with a male, especially if confined to small areas where she can not dig a burrow to escape his advances.

This is how I keep mine www.tortsmad.com/russians.htm

Sue

At under two years of age, they should not be sexable and I would say the most likely thing is that both have grown far too fast - pics will help. Females are larger but at two years of age should still be under 100 grams in weight, I suspect these are much bigger,. Hopefully you have been supplementing with a good D3 supplement as fast grown torts can be prone to prolapse etc. The fleshy object is a penis and your tortoises will have to be separated if you have one of each, as females become very stressed if kept singly with a male, especially if confined to small areas where she can not dig a burrow to escape his advances.

This is how I keep mine www.tortsmad.com/russians.htm

Sue

Thanks for your really helpful reply! I will try and get some pics on, have just weighed them and the smallest is about 100grams but the largest is nearly 200, sounds like we are feeding them too much and maybe we should feed them separately or separate them completely what do you think?

What is a D3 supplement, the place we bought them from said about calcium but not D3?

If it is a penis will it go back in at some point, or could it be a prolapse, what prolapses?  and if it is that what do we do?

Sorry for all of the questions but we seem to be fairly ignorant here and want to look after our torts as well as we can!

Thanks again your help is very much appreciated

Tanya xxx

Yes, it sounds like an overfeeding issue. Then again, the shop could well have told you the wrong hatch dates, they don't usually have a clue. When the male starts pestering the female, then you will have to separate them as she will become stressed. If, on the other hand they are both male and there are no females around, things could well be OK, it's only if you have one of each. The other option is to get a coule  more females to balance things out, but they will need a fairly large area, you don't say what area they have ;)

When torts are kept indoors, it's difficult to give decent lev els of uvb, so a supplement with D3 included is the best option. Calcium is fine but it needs uvb to convert it to D3, otherwise problems such as soft shell can occur, which is more likely if a tortoise is growing too fast.

Do you mean he penis is still showing, it usually goes straight back. If not and it is allowed to dry out, it could well end up needing an amputation. The treatment for a prolapsed penis is to keep it wet and if it does not return then either sprinkle it with some sugar or soak in a sugar/glucose solution to shrink it. If it has been prolapsed for days though, it needs veterinary attention ASAP.

If you can get pics up that would help a lot to see what your problem is. Feel free to send them to my email address if you like wizzasmum@aol.com

Any news on this little one?