is it hard to breed russian tortoises??

Bartman · 10-14-03, 05:06 PM

I have a female russian tortoise i got about 2 or 3 months ago and i love it, but my question is if i wear to get a male for it would it be difficult to breed them? My only intenetion on getting a male is to breed, i dont need another one really for a pet, but i guess once i got it, it would become one over time

So i just wanted to know if there easy to breed, easy meaning if i put them together when there the right size would they "do it"?

thanks in advance!

icex19 · 10-15-03, 04:34 AM

Apparently, they are difficult to breed. Some say that is why the majority of Russian tortoises in the pet trade are Wild Caught.

Wu-Gwei · 10-15-03, 04:03 PM

How big is the female??? It's hard to find CB Russians, and yes Icex19, most of the Russians on the market are WC.

Cheers,
JJ

Bartman · 10-15-03, 05:25 PM

the one i have now was wc but its been checked out by vets and tings like that..the one i might be getting is possibly wc but the guy said it could be cb, does this make a diff?

Wu-Gwei · 10-15-03, 07:35 PM

It's not so much if they are WC or CB... it's just if the females are mature enough. About 7-9 years they should be able to reproduce. Check out... www.russiantortoise.org They have a lot of info and a forum and yahoo group as well. They'll give you a lot more info.

Cheers,
JJ

Bartman · 10-15-03, 08:51 PM

true, thanks. Im pretty sure mines only about 3 years tops. Its like 5 inches long, whats your call? and its female btw

Turtle Matt · 10-16-03, 10:17 AM

It's likely older that 3 years...I would bet it is a wildcaught and if so,it will be MUCH older than 3 as they grow slowly in the wild. These tortoises only reach a maximum length of 8" (which is small) so they will grow slow. If it is CB (which I doubt) it will still be alot older than 3...I have a 4 year old sulcata that is only 6"...Your tortoise would be very pyramided if she was only 3.
Matt

eyespy · 10-16-03, 03:55 PM

I've never tried breeding Russians but folks who talk about it in the newsgroups give me the impression that they will breed quite easily if they are healthy. The biggest challenge is that many of the wildcaught Russians are carriers of herpes and iridoviruses that are often symptomless in adults but can cause infertility, hatchling mortality, and the offspring can develop respiratory and digestive tract infections while still in the shell.

Herpes is the major culprit as it can lie dormant in the body for a very long time and the animal only develops symptoms when very stressed or the immune system weakens from parasites or a different infectious pathogen.

Getting bloodwork to look for elevated white blood cell counts and nasal swabbings to look for signs of infection are recommended before breeding.

A bare minimum of 1 year's quarantine is recommended for adults to see if they will show respiratory infection symptoms while entering or exiting brumation. But even amongst carriers symptoms do not always develop.

Bartman · 10-18-03, 11:13 AM

then forget it im not taking anychances with all those complications, i konw its wc and it was sold to me as wc so i knew what i was getting into before i bought it. As for now it has shown absolutly no signs of unhealthyness and the guy who had the tort before me keeps all of his in great shape. I might take it to the vet soon jsut for a check up but i dont think im gonna breed her, to many things to go wrong and i dont need that right now...thanks for your replies!

Ryan · 10-18-03, 10:01 PM

It sounds as though you've already made your decision but I thought I'd just add a little info on the subject.......The main obstacle for breeding Russians is supposed to be brumating them properly, i've read and been told that if they are not brumated properly their health in general may suffer. This is probably more likely in wild caught Russians than CB, this seems to be a fairly difficult task compared to snakes as they require really specific conditions.