Is my Hermann tortoise ready for breeding yet?

[davidm]

Hi this is my first post has i have only just discovered this great forum.
I have a 7 year old Testudo Hermanns tortoise and was wandering if he is ready to breed yet.
As he tends to always have his wotsit out nowadays.
Im interested in purchasing two 4 year old female hermanns tortoises from ***************************.
I know i have to seperate them for 6 months which is no probs as i have loads of space.
I also believe female tortoises cannot lay eggs until they are 7 years old is this true.


Thanks for your time David.

Edited to delete name out for legal reasons.

[Eire_Ade]

Hi David

Welcome to Shelled Warriors.

I edited your post as we have a no naming policy for legal reasons, I would urge you to consider finding a reputable UK breeder over any petshop or internet dealership as the tortoises you get from these places are not necesarrily UK captive bred animals and on many occassions especially with herman tortoises they are imports from Slovinia and are known for being in bad health as a result of their ordeal being imported, with the odd exception that there are some which are healthy but this is not a guarentee.

I hope this helps.

Ade

[sandy]

All male tortoises have their penis hanging out at sometime or another<g> it comes with them
being male<g>. Seven is very young for a tortoise to lay eggs (if your thinking of getting a
seven year old) although over grown tortoises probably can, but thats not what you want for
a healthy tortoise. Ten to fifteen is more like breeding age.

[davidm]

ok thanks for the replys.

My 7 y/o male has been randy since i got my adult female, but its come to nothing, so i would say your male would need to wait for a while anyway, it might be a good idea to aim at rehoming two adult females, that way when you finally get them your male will be old enough, female hermanns are like gold dust!

I agree with Sandy, Theres no point in growing them too quickly just for eggs.