Aggressive male

[jamiemiller0]

Hi all,

I've had my two Hermanns for 5 1/2 years and I've never had any problems with them. However from how they're grown it's now obvious that one is a male and one is a female, and over the last few months the male has started to behave quite aggressively towards the female. He will often bite her back legs and climb on top of her (I assume he is trying to mate). He is quite a bit bigger than her so it obviously isn't the best experience for her.

Has anyone else had this happen before and is there anything I can try to improve the situation? I don't really have the space to give them separate enclosures at the moment.

Also they are 6 and 5 respectively so should I be worried about them reproducing? I have always over-wintered them which I have read reduces fertility, however as they are my first tortoises I do not have any direct experience with this.

Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!