Hello,

I have two horsefield tortoises called George and Humphrey. Both are about 4 (I think) and
Measure about 10cm long.

Today, both have been enjoying the sun but both decided to retire to their mini dog hutch. Whilst sitting in the garden eating my lunch I heard this strange noise. A high pitch squeak, similar to a mouse. I initially thought that a family of mice had moved in to the hutch and the boys had disturbed them but when I lifted the lid to check,, Humphrey was behind George, thrusting away and squeaking. George weanwhile looked very unimpressed.

This year humphreys tail has got longer than georges which has me wondering if george is not in fact Georgina.

Do I need to be worried? Is this just teenage behaviour and Humphrey experimenting? Is there any change Georgina could get pregnant? Would two boy torts do this and therefore Georgina may still be a boy?

Sorry for a the questions, I just was not expecting this sort of behaviour yet, they grow us so quick these days!

Zoe

Hi Zoe
Well like you say, they do grow up very quickly nowadays, they shouldn't really mature until 7yrs old but the torts in captivity tend to be more advanced, just a guess but I shouldn't think they could get pregannt at that age, but hopefully someone with more experience will be able to advice on that. I have not had any experience in this field personally (with my torts I mean teehee) but have seen my friend having them, they have to seperate the torts if the male bothers the female too much, she has a cool down area.   It does sound very much like you have a girl & a boy on your hands although I have heard of the same sexes getting up to naughties!! if one is a boy then it is normally said that you should one boy to 3 girls so the females get a break. Sorry not much help, I think it is a case of watching their behaviour and checking the tails.
Jane, Keya & Molly

Hi,

I thought it was about 10 when they are sexually mature? Maybe I have the age of mine wrong.

I have seen same sex sort of naughtiness in rats and mice. It's more to show dominance and submission in the group though than sexual.

It still makes me smile now thinking about the very unmanly noise Humphrey was making. It's the first time I have seen any behaviour like that in them. Will have to keep an eye on them.

Thanks for the reply

Hi Zoe
I know that in the wild the age of maturity is 15yrs old, but hard to say with the torts in captivity, I have heard that it can be best to separate the torts if they are mating as it can be possible at 4yrs?(if that is true) and you need to be careful as being so little they would have problems carrying and passing the eggs. But this may not be relevant at the moment and Humphrey just having practice runs Teehee
I have seen torts mating and it is pretty funny isn't it?
Jane, Keya & Molly

Hi Zoe
I know that in the wild the age of maturity is 15yrs old, but hard to say with the torts in captivity, I have heard that it can be best to separate the torts if they are mating as it can be possible at 4yrs?(if that is true) and you need to be careful as being so little they would have problems carrying and passing the eggs. But this may not be relevant at the moment and Humphrey just having practice runs Teehee
I have seen torts mating and it is pretty funny isn't it?
Jane, Keya & Molly

Hi

We looked after a friends tortoise when they were away in the summer. He was a male hermans about 6yrs and had shown no previous sexual behaviour .

We have a male hermans, and at the time about he was about 18mths old. We had them in the same area, though in their own tables, and they never came into contact (for obvious reasons!)

After a couple of days, the holiday tortoise went beserk and seemed really agitated. I thought he was going to destroy his table so we let him out to 'run the energy out of him'.

He soon started to chase peoples feet and was intent on biting our ankles. Finally he got hold of a shoe and to our surprise and amusement had sex with it (and was quite vocal!). Thankfully he seemed to pass out shortly after and was quiet for the next couple of days, then the behaviour started again!

We were relieved when the owners came back from holiday and they were quite embarassed by our tales. They later said that as soon as they got him back home he settled down to his normal sedate life!

We have a couple of things to say. The holiday tortoise was certainly not too young to show full sexual behaviour! Was this started to show dominance due to the presence of another male tortoise, or is our tortoise a girl? Who knows!

All we can say is that I don't think we will be looking after the big guy next year! It was exhausting!

Comments appreciated!