Downside up.

[Rosey-Bear]

I don't want babies and I am seriously considering rehoming Malcolm.

[becciwales]

Well, you don't have to incubate the eggs. That's one good thing, not like a dog or cat getting pregnant.

[becciwales]

You might struggle to rehome a male. Could you separate them? Is just babies why you want to rehome him? xx

[Rosey-Bear]

I don't want babies as I don't have the room for tortoise tables indoors but I also don't want to stress the girls out. I may have someone to take him but the reason I took him on was that he pines without his girls and doesn't eat. I wish you could neuter a tortoise, would solve my problem. I will be dispatching any eggs laid but it will make me so sad to do it.(Although I am tempted to try to hatch some just to see if I can successfully do it, but it is expensive to get an incubator).

Really wishing I just got a single tort now.

[burnt toast]

Dont stress I have been where you are now, so I do sympathise: I rehomed a group of elderley Hermans 1.3 (& now got the ladies other 3 females!) A couple arrived gravid & threw the biggest strop about being in a new home, with a new owner & needing to lay eggs but not wanting to!! Thank goodness they have settled down/got used to me & I to them now! You have been thrown in @ the deep end. A couple of things to think about:

If Malcolm is a different subspecies to the girls then the babies will be crosses & its not really recomended to breed x's. There is also a lower fertility rate with these eggs.

You dont have to incubate eggs but please smash or freeze them to ensure they dont incubate in a landfill site ( assuming they got there in one piece!)

Your girls can carry sperm for up to 3/4 years & continue to lay eggs for this time. So you will probably still have the pacing/digging etc. So its important to provide nesting facilities as serious problems can occur if they retain eggs

Is Malcom actually chasing them round/pestering them to mate a lot?

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Rosey-Bear

I don't want babies as I don't have the room for tortoise tables indoors but I also don't want to stress the girls out. I may have someone to take him but the reason I took him on was that he pines without his girls and doesn't eat. I wish you could neuter a tortoise, would solve my problem. I will be dispatching any eggs laid but it will make me so sad to do it.(Although I am tempted to try to hatch some just to see if I can successfully do it, but it is expensive to get an incubator).

Really wishing I just got a single tort now.

Just let the females lay any eggs, and just leave them in the ground. Just because they lay eggs, you don't have to incubate them:0)

[Rosey-Bear]

He does bash them a lot and occasionally does mount them. He is a different subspecies, so I really don't want to hatch the eggs. I will sort out a laying spot for them on the weekend.

[emma_mcraf]

I'm sorry your early days of keeping torts is proving to be stressful, Abby. Hopefully the gravid females will lay soon and things will settle down.
Do you have any room in your garden for a smaller enclosure for Malcolm or would you need to rehome him? It would seem such a shame to let him go when you were originally only going to have one male tort in the first instance (which I assume was to be Malcolm?).

I'd imagine this problem will just be ongoing while Malcolm is with the females and you could get eggs year on year, which I know you weren't planning on as the females were coming to you for their 'retirement'.

I hope you can sort something out soon and not feel so stressed.