Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i have 3 tortises, and the biggests one (18-20 iches) keeps trying to mate with the second biggest (15-17 inches)but the problem is they are e both male, and the smaller one ruuns away, annd the big guyy gets fllipped on his back. annd today we found him on his back, and he was f oamiing at thhe mouth, and pooping everywhere. we flipped him over, and turnnedon the sprinkler to give him water, annd he seems ok nnow, but hhow long sould we expecyt this to go on? will thhey stop whenn breeding season is over? if so , what are the typical breeding seasonn times, so we can set up a barrier to prevent this from happening.

He is not trying to mate with the smaller one, he is doing that to establish dominance. You need to separate your males when they get to that age and want to procreate. Also, it is very dangerous for them to be upside down for extended periods, their organs squish their lungs and they have difficulty breathing. If they are in the sun, they will heat up a lot faster because their lower shell has less surface area to dissipate heat and they can dehydrate very fast. If he was foaming at the mouth, that seems pretty serious, and even though these guys are usually pretty tough, I wouldn't take the chance of it happening again. Separate them.