How to Mate Sulcata Tortoises?

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Sulcata tortoises can usually mate the entire year but their breeding season happens during autumn when the temperature in the morning is a bit cooler. How to mate sulcata tortoises? In the wild and even in captivity, males court females by directly chasing them and getting in front of them. How to mate sulcata tortoises? They will not stop until a female tortoise completely stops so that the male can mount her and start mating. When they these animals copulate, you can expect grunts and loud noises.

Male or Female

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Sulcata tortoises are sexually dimorphic which means that you can easily identify which one is male or female based on their physical characteristics. Although both sexes look identical, males have concave bottom shells with thicker and longer tales. Their rectal openings are also quite wide than females. They are also larger and have a more prominent gular. On the other hand, females are relatively smaller than male sulcatas and their anal scutes in their plastron has a much smaller opening than that of the males.

Tortoise Copulation

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Nesting usually happens around 6 to 8 weeks after copulation, you’ll know this when you see your female sulcata digging holes using its front legs. They usually burrow against a wall or near a tree/plant. Once they complete their digging process, the female excavates their egg chamber and starts laying eggs. They usually cover their nest in a meticulous way and the whole nesting process can take hours.

Compared to other tortoises, sulcatas takes a long time to cover their nest, sometimes it could take them 2 to 3 days just to make sure that the eggs are fully covered. During this time, some female sulcatas can also become overly aggressive if they found out that people or other species are near their nests.

Keep in Mind

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Be careful if you’re going to aid in their nesting process because some tortoises can attempt to bite you and will try to push you away using their shells just to protect their nests. Sulcata tortoises can produce many eggs in a year; the average clutch size is 5 during the breeding season with about 12 to 25 eggs or more. These species really lay lots of eggs which is why sulcatas are abundant in the U.S.

Laying Tortoise Eggs

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Once you see that your female had laid eggs, make sure that they’re not looking or is far from you when you dig up their eggs. You have to get the eggs and place it in a container for proper incubation and to protect it against potential predation. Incubate the eggs at around 80 to 85 degrees and moistened them with a bit of water. The eggs will usually hatch after 100 to 120 days. Once the hatchlings comes out of the shells, just leave them be in their container until their yolks are fully absorbed, after which you can put the young hatchlings in soft towels until you see their bottom shell is sealed.

How to Sell Sulcatas

How to mate sulcata tortoises? The packaging is very important if you’re going to ship baby sucata tortoises because you need to make sure that the animals are well protected. You can partner up with other businesses that shipped reptiles so that you can get the lowest rate possible.

Tip #1

The first step is to prepare a box or a normal size cube that measures around 10 x 10 inches. Make sure that the box is quite thick and made up of quality cardboards. Don’t forget to print out a sign that says “perishable goods” or “handle with care” and put some arrows in it in red font color so that the delivery man will take care of it during delivery.

Tip #2

The next step is to cut out or buy a Styrofoam that’s the same size and shape of your box. The foam inserts has two functions, the first one is that they cushion the package inside and the second one is it insulates the animal from outside temperatures, so that you or your customers won’t have to worry about the tortoise getting too cold or whatnot. Just slide the foams on all sides of the box, make sure that they’re exactly fitted in the box’s size.

Tip #3

How to mate sulcata tortoises? After setting up the box, you can buy plastic cups that look like a water dish or sort of a shallow bowl (not the glass cups, more of a delicups). Once you do, just go ahead and put air holes in it using a tool to poke through the cup.

Tip #4

Make a couple of air holes on the plastic cup but not on the box or the foam otherwise it will defeat the purpose of the foam’s insulation capabilities because it will let the outside air get inside the box and could make your tortoise uncomfortable during its shipment. You can assure your customers by explaining to them that unlike mammals or humans, tortoises don’t breathe as much as we do since they are cold – blooded creatures, so they won’t have to worry about the animal not getting enough air inside the box or becoming suffocated because the foams are not air tight, it’s only insulated.

Tip #5

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Once you’ve prepared the cup, just tear out a newspaper and crumple it, then put it inside the cup because it will serve as the temporary bedding of the baby tortoise. After doing that, you can go ahead and pick out which baby tortoise is going to go.

Tip #6

Before you do, however, make sure to give them a quick look. Make sure that the tortoise is responsive, has bright and clear eyes, and free of any discharge. Behaviorally speaking, they should be quite scared when getting picked up since they’re still babies, they could sort of pull back into their shells – that’s actually a good sign that you’ve properly nursed them.

Tip #7

Make sure that the tortoises are also soaked or hydrated before packing them up because you just never know how long the shipment could take or whatnot, this is just to prepare them for a trip before reaching their new homes. Usually, depending on how far you’re going to deliver them, these tortoises are going to be spending around 2 days or more but you don’t have to worry about that since they pretty much naturally stay underground as hatchlings.

Tip #8

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Once you’ve checked them out and prepped them up, you can then place them inside the cup, put the lid and close it. After that, place the cup inside the box then just take a couple more shreds of newspapers, crumple them up and place it in the four corners with the cup being the center to prevent it from getting swayed on either sides of the box.

Tip #9

Take a couple more crumpled newspapers and put them on top to provide added security. You can include whatever you want like before you sealed the box, just place some instructions, reminders, a thank you note or some kind of surprise for your customer. You also have to attach a small packaged size heat pad inside the insulated roof (insert it inside the box before completely closing it) to keep the tortoise warm as well.

Tip #10

How to mate sulcata tortoises? Once it’s all done, just insert the top piece of foam and close the box using a packaging tape to completely seal it. The packaging doesn’t have to be pretty but it has to be secure. Before shipping a tortoise, make sure that you do your research about the particular species because obviously the instructions provided here may only be applicable to grassland tortoises in general like the African sulcata since these species are not aquatic or semi – aquatic like the turtles. Try to also read or research the laws regarding shipping or selling particular tortoise or turtle species because some breeds could be prohibited in being delivered.