29-08-2006, 07:31 AM | #11 |
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hi this is my opinion based on my own experiences do with it what you will ,if this female has never laid eggs or been mated for a lot of years and is getting old it would be cruel and dangerous to subject her to the attentions of a male, and all the potential problems and dangers assocciated with egg laying .i have found that any mateing activity will produce although not neccesarily fertile eggs even mateing between spurthighed and hermans tortoises have produced eggs ,but i have never known any to be fertile and i have tried to incubate them for people in the past as well as adviseing them to seperate the tortoise species.
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29-08-2006, 07:50 AM | #12 |
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I'm sorry, but I think that if this female tort is being kept badly, as you say (iceberg lettuce, no heat or UV when indoors, no calcium supplements, etc.) then I certainly wouldn't encourage the keeper to mate that tortoise to try and produce eggs. It would be stressful for the tortoise and not very nice to bring little torts into a world where they would be kept as badly as their Mum. I'd put my efforts into trying to get the keeper to provide better indoor conditions.
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29-08-2006, 11:24 AM | #13 | |
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29-08-2006, 11:28 AM | #14 | |
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I have tried as much as i can to change the torts conditions, i bathed it at the weekend and fed it weeds and offered to build it an enclosure. but to no successs |
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29-08-2006, 12:56 PM | #15 | ||
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29-08-2006, 01:33 PM | #16 |
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nina, i respect all your comments, and this breeding idea wasnt likely to go ahead anyway as i only see this tort once in a blue moon and i dont know any other local hermann keepers, after reading your posts i will advise her not to breed her tort.
The girl is in such an unusual position, she has just moved in to her own home and she thinks her mum will give her the family tort, she is getting someone to move in with her now surprisingly this person also has a tortoise, i havent seen this tort but she reckons it is the same breed which i cant believe as she didnt know the breed of her tort until i posted pics on this forum. i only see this lass every few months so i cant help the tort like i did at the weekend, and i have no influence on what she does when her friend moves in with her tort. The reason she is stubborn is because they have had the tort 7 years or so and the rspca told them to feed it iceberg and the tort hasnt shown any ill health, and to be honest the tort looked healthy to me too. Now i know that in the long run this tort will suffer and die early but she doesnt understand. What i cant understand is how the tort is so healthy, after 7 years of no indoor lighting or heat source and being fed iceberg lettuce, what i mean by healthy is clear eyes and mouth, the tort is heavy but walks tall and its shell is smooth and solid. |
29-08-2006, 01:36 PM | #17 |
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Well there is the saying it takes 20 yrs to kill a torotise so only time will tell how much longer this tort will survive in this way.
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Peter Keeping: Testudo hermanni, Testudo graeca (graeca & ibera ), Testudo horsfieldi, Astrochelys radiata, Malacochersus tornieri and Kinixys belliana. The North West Tortoise Group |
29-08-2006, 01:37 PM | #18 |
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yeah definately, question: is it stealing when it is a rescue mission??? oj
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29-08-2006, 01:42 PM | #19 | |
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Take care, |
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29-08-2006, 01:47 PM | #20 | ||
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