oh those sounds late at night....

[brinjay]

how loud are the noises or "screams" made by russian torts when they breed? i went to bed a couple nights ago and heard a wierd noise....almost like a whimpering dog or something....
By the time i got out of bed and went over to my huge turtle pen they were already asleep.....so i was wondering if it was possible that the russians mated or if it was something else (which would be disturbing, since i have no other pets).  ~!? let me know if anyone has experienced what the "screams" sound like!  they are  both big (Around 6 inches) and are fat and happy....big habitat....so let me know what you think.

[Joe H]

Its loud enough that I can hear it from another room.

One of these days I'll record it. Its more like a squeal.

[1nt2teach]

Agreed, it is VERY loud indeed...and does sound quite like a pig.  Sortof a straining type sound, as if air were being pushed out every time they thrust (sorry for the graphics)

EDIT: As far as breeding goes, my guy will make that sound even if he hasn't "found the right spot" persay...in that he'll mount the side of a female and scream for a good hour or so for no good reason!

[Joe H]

EDIT: As far as breeding goes, my guy will make that sound even if he hasn't "found the right spot" persay...in that he'll mount the side of a female and scream for a good hour or so for no good reason!

Yep thats A russian tort for ya...

[BySeaAndByLand]

I'd liken the sound to more of a squeeze ball, like a chew toy for dogs. One of my males, Handsome John, will mount anything that moves. I've seen him mount their wooden log they like to climb! lol

[Turbotort]

Do they move their heads up and down and sometimes go to butt things?? I`ve got one thats doing that to large stones but too young to tell the age do you think i may have a male??

[Autumn33]

wow I had no idea they make any kind of sound now that is interesting. Are the mails more aggressive then the females? at Pet co where my tort comes from they have also a big Male when you pick him up he hisses at you. I chose Shelly,, the first time I looked at the torts she looked at me and then she came right over to me so one day later I went back and got here 

[Bertas Tortoise]

Berta does the head bob thing too!!!  Maybe she is a he!!   

[Turbotort]

How olds Berta, maybe you can tell the sex when theyre younger by behaviour?   
Autumn33 is must have been fate 

[Bertas Tortoise]

Im not sure how old Berta is?? The guy said She was "full grown" and that was all he knew about her. He said she was a female because of her tail. She is very independent though and I have seen her head bob at a few things. She is very sweet as well. How can you tell the age anyways?

[Turbotort]

You can only tell the age if you know the hatch date. With a small tort you can guess its round about age, but with a fully grown tort theres no way of knowing. If Bertas fully grown with a small tail then shes a girl, i`m glad i`ve got 2 from the egg, but it really gets on my nerves (For want of a better word) that i don`t know how old my 95gram tort is. From having her from little and over a year i`m guessing shes two, i do grow her slowly though so other peoples two year olds maybe alot bigger. I`ve heard of peoples torts being over 100grams before theyre one but thats definitely growing them too fast. Lots to it isn`t there,  i think thats the price we all have to pay that we`ll never really know the exact age of our torts 

[Zookeeper]

My big tort does the head bobbing and I'm almost 100% certain it's a female.  She's 7" long.

[Turbotort]

Oh good, I want all my torts to be female as between my hubby and dogs i`m the only girl in our house and it would be great to have a bit of female company around the place   

[baxter]

My big tort does the head bobbing and I'm almost 100% certain it's a female.  She's 7" long.

Zookeeper... does she butt things? I've read that butting is a male behavior, but don't know if it's correct or not.

I've read also that both sexes do head bobbing.

[Zookeeper]

No, I've never seen her head butt anything.  I posted about head bobbing because Turbo has a tort that head bobs and she thought it might be a male but  she also said it butts things as well.  All I know is my big one will head bob to the little one and I know the big one's a female.  The little one, who knows.