any ideas Dan ??

[egyptiandan64]

I think that would have been an interesting talk. Claws on a male box turtle help with an unresponsive female (which I have very seldom had). So basicly when a female is unresponsive she will clamp down the rear portion of her plastron giving no access to her cloaca. On a female like this a male will use his claws to hook the edge of the plastron and pull down. As he does this he will, as he gets room, slowly push his legs into the pocket in front of the back legs. Once his legs are in he can go about breeding without fear of the female clamping down on his manhood , she will only be clamped down on his legs. I have had males that a female wouldn't let go and had their legs swell from being "locked into" a female for 8 or 9 hours.
Also this method (claws to open the plastron) doesn't always work with a determined female (and my males have all their claws). Females can be unresponsive for a few different reasons, like already having been bred a few times or carrying eggs.

Danny

[TillyTortoise]

Originally Posted by egyptiandan64

I think that would have been an interesting talk. Claws on a male box turtle help with an unresponsive female (which I have very seldom had). So basicly when a female is unresponsive she will clamp down the rear portion of her plastron giving no access to her cloaca. On a female like this a male will use his claws to hook the edge of the plastron and pull down. As he does this he will, as he gets room, slowly push his legs into the pocket in front of the back legs. Once his legs are in he can go about breeding without fear of the female clamping down on his manhood , she will only be clamped down on his legs. I have had males that a female wouldn't let go and had their legs swell from being "locked into" a female for 8 or 9 hours.
Also this method (claws to open the plastron) doesn't always work with a determined female (and my males have all their claws). Females can be unresponsive for a few different reasons, like already having been bred a few times or carrying eggs.

Danny

That's intersting, thanks Dan.

[jeff]

Thank you Dan,That helps.

Chris sorry to hear you have been dirty joed.

[ClareandCo]

Its exactly as Dan has described coupled with the fact that when the male withdraws he also may need his claws to keep a "gap" open for his own safety.

There were about 7 talks on the Asian Box Turtle Genus Cuora and on North American Box Turtles from some extremely renowned, knowledgeable and informed keepers.

Sorry to say, but I find what some of you have posted in response to me merely adding some information that I gleaned from these talks rather offensive and also from what I have seen in Chat generally regarding this thread.

[Box girl]

Hi it is great that you learnt so much from the talks. it was a great weekend. These talks are all about learning.
Dan is lucky if he has seen males have the ability to mate without long claws esp the one in particular. These claws do not grow back.
The male in question to us is not a true ornata as he has the wrong shape.

Originally Posted by ClareandCo

Its exactly as Dan has described coupled with the fact that when the male withdraws he also may need his claws to keep a "gap" open for his own safety.

There were about 7 talks on the Asian Box Turtle Genus Cuora and on North American Box Turtles from some extremely renowned, knowledgeable and informed keepers.

Sorry to say, but I find what some of you have posted in response to me merely adding some information that I gleaned from these talks rather offensive and also from what I have seen in Chat generally regarding this thread.

[Box girl]

Hi Stells the thing at this conference was that we were all saying the similar things. As Clare said there were many years of experience there. Surely this is how we learn, I know we have brought back a few new ideas based on what we learnt.
It is great when you can get so many experts together.

[egyptiandan64]

Why would being able to see a box turtle mate without using his rear claws be lucky? Most of the literally 100's of box turtle breedings (over the last 23 years) I have witnessed the female has been willing and the male was able to stick his legs in the pockets very easily. Actually some of my females do what I call the "come get me big boy dance" with their back legs to get a male interested in them. This is the same leg action that females do when tamping down the dirt on top of a nest. It's very interesting to see and it does get the males attention.
No I haven't (of course) seen this particular male bred. I don't though understand why nails don't grow. Unless a nail has fallen off or damage done to the growing part of the nail (at the base of the nail), all nails grow.

Danny

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Box girl

Hi Stells the thing at this conference was that we were all saying the similar things. As Clare said there were many years of experience there. Surely this is how we learn, I know we have brought back a few new ideas based on what we learnt.
It is great when you can get so many experts together.

Yes but I don't think actually being at the conference would make it any more true than if it was said on a forum like this. For example, if Frances Baines said on here what she had to say at the conference then I would believe it anyway but I know what Stells is saying, people tend to think that just because it's said at a conference they are more likely to take it as gospel.. in a Jim Jones kind of way
The same experts can meet up online and it would still be the same information.

At one time people thought 'if it's on the news then it must be true' which of course is not always the case.

It's a bit like Spurs got beat 3-1 whether you were at the game or watched it online

[ClareandCo]

Originally Posted by stells

Clare... you can take what i said personally... i didn't mention you by name though... and could have also been referring to others... but maybe you are offended easily... i was though actually talking about conferences in general... quite often we see people who have gone to one of these... and take the opinion of one person as the gospel truth and start flitting it around on the forums without doing their own research... but if you want to think it was directed at just yourself feel free.

I don't take offence easily and those that know me will agree. However, there was a 50/50 chance it was being aimed at me as there was only one other person who attended the conference that had posted on this particular thread.

There were at least 7 talks on these specific turtles and not a single delegate questioned this particular fact when it was said. There were lots of questions and answers and without doubt it would have been picked up by someone if it was incorrect/vastly different from their own experiences.

Do bear in mind the calibre of these speakers - not people that post their one singular minded opinion on a forum - these are keepers who have a vast knowledge, many of whom are breeding turtles that most people have never even heard of let alone know anything about them.

[NATURALIS]

WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , the OP being me only asked Dan to i'd this box turtle which he has , thank you Dan .