Living in Fl. helps but even here can be problemadic. It has to be a rainy/wet summer a short dry winter/spring then IT HAS TO RAIN ALOT quite suddenly. The thunder/drop in pressure I can not duplcate and it has grate bearing on it. We have had two years of little rain which caused my worst year in twenty years last season. There are also signs that males coming along with a STRONG and agressive desire to breed has a trigger. It is quite possable a signal to the females to lay this season. This is "the thin line bewteen chaos and stability"*. Without the males stimulation they might wait for the following season if condishions were not up to par for her that season. Leaving the males to pester them can also be a bad call as well. The females bite (they go for the eyes) and push them around, turning them over or themselfs. You have to find that perfect moment to intervien or not, or you end up with the females abandoning the nest and scattering the eggs on the ground for up to four weeks. For years people seperated the sexes at this critical time because that is just what people did with tortoises, BUT Manouria nesting is more compairable with Croc's and Gator's than other tortoises. Most Manouria have been bred in captivity in Fl. Texas is secound, but then again Wash.State, Central Park Zoo NY,NY and a 12x12 room in Austria have had success. VM pic....sometimes you get a suprise.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]