Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I have 2 female and 1 male 3 toe boxies. The male used to mate with just one of the females, now he dont mate her anymore but mates the other one only. Shouldnt he mate both of them? Do the females put out a smell when they want to mate, or give off a sign. Or does the male just mate when and with whoever he wants? I am worried he is stressing out my female that he mates, he will search the pen, dig her up and just climb on waiting for her to move so he can get in!

thanks

Female box turtles are found by males by sight and not by smell. Why he now goes after the one now instead of his previous female cannot be determined for sure. Perhaps the female bit him and he's learned he best keep away from her. Or he could just prefer the new one because she is an easier target.

The important point is: These turtles should not be kept in the same pen all the time so mating can occur anytime the male feels like it. What if the female become gravid and the male mate with her and crushes the eggs within the female's body? The female could die. And the stress of constantly fending off of the male's attention is hard on female turtles-it could weaken them and they could become sick.

Unless your pen is as big as a house-the males and female should be seperated into two pens with only rare visits between the two. In the wild there would never be this kind of mating interaction between the male and female. But in a small pen there is no way a female can get away. Please do right by your females and give them their own place of peace
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info

My pen is 160 square foot, I have a chain link fence around the actual pen and have room to either expand the pen, or create a second pen using the walls of the existing pen. The existing pen is 10ft by 16ft, the chain link is 12ft by 20ft, so I can make a 2ft wide area that is 20 ft long, and also have a 12 by 4 ft area incorporated into the second pen, it would look like a big L. This way they are all protected by the chain link fence. I was also thinking of cutting little openings into the interior walls, so they can roam all areas, they will be able to hide more. Any thoughts on this?

I am thinking the one he is targeting IS easier to catch, she is younger than the other, also she is a captive bread turt as to where the other female was a wild caught bought from pet store, I know bad She seems to be more evasive than the captive.

This is my first year with multiple boxies. I have had the WC female for 2 years now and recently added the other 2 turts, say 7 months ago. I am also getting a third female, a rescue, here in the next couple days. My thoughts were it would relieve the targeted female a bit.

Either one of them are gravid, I weigh them weekly and though they seem to be gaining weight it is not in huge amounts. Will a gravid female refuse mating? Maybe the one IS gravid and fending off the male as she knows she can be injured. It seems here lately that they both are fending the male off. I have taught the targeted female where to hide so the male can not get to her. She is really smart and figured out what I was doing pretty fast

By the way, I am honored to have you reply to my post! I have read many of your writings online I believe I read somewhere you are/were involved in a box turtle restoration project around Katy Texas if I remember right? I live in Dayton Texas, not to far from Katy, I would/am interested in getting involved in volunteering if any help is needed.

thanks,
carrie