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Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 10:54
by laurat
Help!! I think Vera is a boy! Bummer! I’ve just seen something for the first time that tells me Vera is not a lady!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 11:14
by Nina
Ha, ha -- did you take a photo? Will Vera have to become Victor or Vernon?
Here are some photos of what you might have seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQq366-HHZY
and here is a really frightening video of a male tortoise trying to mate with a ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jA7m7QEo2s (they are truly amazing!)
If you send us a photo of Vera's underside, clearly showing her tail, we might be able to confirm male or female.

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 11:22
by laurat
Hi Nina, YES that’s what I saw! I panicked and was on my way to phone the vets as I thought it was a prolapse or something and then I stopped and thought ‘wait’ I need to check this out and voila! I’ll take a photo shortly and upload it of the underside. Name wise I’m thinking Percy or Cecil!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 11:38
by Nina
Oh I do like Percy or Cecil -- the sort of names of people who would have worked in an old fashioned men's outfitters -- quite respectable! LOL, hope you weren't too put off by the video with the tortoise and the ball!

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 11:41
by laurat
I think ‘the bits’ look horrific! Goodness I thought something bad was happening!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 11:47
by Nina
Yes, it's quite shocking when you first see it (actually I've only seen a tortoise penis in photos because I have females), but it's certainly not what you would expect from a neat little shelled creature. And I find the fact that they (well, Horsfields anyway) can lay very big eggs for their size amazing too. My Doris, who is just over 600g regularly lays four or five eggs a year, with each of them being over 20g. Here is a photo of the two she laid on Sunday.[attachment=0]m_DSC01182.jpg[/attachment]

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 12:11
by laurat
Oh my goodness, how big please???????????? Jeez, I wouldn’t like to lay those myself!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 12:56
by Nina
I always write the weight on them, so it's on there but maybe too small to see. One weighs 25g and one weighs 26g. They are about one and three-quarters inches long and just under one and a quarter inches wide. Doris herself is about 6 inches by 4.5 inches and weighs about 640g. So it's amazing that two eggs that size were able to fit inside her with all her organs, plus get out.
She usually lays two eggs about three weeks after emerging from hibernation, then in a fortnight lays another egg, and then in another fortnight lays another two eggs (so five in total, but last year she only laid three if I remember -- but one of them was 27g). Those five eggs together equal about 20% of her body weight, so that is quite a lot.

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 13:26
by laurat
Nina that is absolutely amazing ... it honestly amazes me. My mind goes into overdrive with things like this.
I’ve decided as To Kill A Mockingbird is my all time favourite book, Vera is now going to be Atticus!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 17:57
by Nina
Ooh, I like Atticus - a very noble name. The original Atticus was an ancient Greek philosopher, and I've always thought of Vera as a very philosophical sort of tortoise :) And To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favourite books too -- a great choice!

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 19:39
by laurat
HA HA, arrrrrr Nina you make me laugh!! Randall is also another name I’ve thrown into the bag as he is a recurring character throughout Stephen King’s novels (I’m a bookaholic!), but I think it’s going to be Atticus! I’m still calling him Vera. I cannot see Vera as a he. This may take some getting used to!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2018, 22:08
by Nina
Well, I have sort of been through the reverse. When I first got my Doris, she/he was called Boris (it seemed like a good, if trite, name for a Russian tortoise). But after five or six years it became obvious that Boris was female (and then that was confirmed when she began laying eggs a few years later). I chose the name Doris because she was a sort of dumpy, frumpy tortoise, with a sweet personality, but perhaps not a shining intellect, and that name seemed to fit (apologies to any humans out there who are called Doris!). Then when I got Dolly, she was seemed to be a tortoise with more pizzazz and style (sort of a 'Hello Dolly'! animal), and the name suited her. Now they are like two little spinsters, occasionally bickering, but mainly very fond of each other and they toddle around happily together.

Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2018, 01:44
by asecca
I can not believe it !! ... how big
congratulations for the male


Nina wrote:
> Ha, ha -- did you take a photo? Will Vera have to become Victor or Vernon?
>
> Here are some photos of what you might have seen:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQq366-HHZY
> and here is a really frightening video of a male tortoise trying to mate
> with a ball
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jA7m7QEo2s (they are truly amazing!)
> If you send us a photo of Vera's underside, clearly showing her tail, we
> might be able to confirm male or female.
>
> Nina

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2018, 06:09
by laurat
Neither can I Asecca. I’m just more relieved there’s nothing wrong, I panicked like hell!

Re: Vera!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2018, 06:09
by laurat
Sounds like it’s quite the trend then!!!

Nina wrote:
> Well, I have sort of been through the reverse. When I first got my Doris,
> she/he was called Boris (it seemed like a good, if trite, name for a
> Russian tortoise). But after five or six years it became obvious that
> Boris was female (and then that was confirmed when she began laying eggs a
> few years later). I chose the name Doris because she was a sort of dumpy,
> frumpy tortoise, with a sweet personality, but perhaps not a shining
> intellect, and that name seemed to fit (apologies to any humans out there
> who are called Doris!). Then when I got Dolly, she was seemed to be a
> tortoise with more pizzazz and style (sort of a 'Hello Dolly'! animal), and
> the name suited her. Now they are like two little spinsters, occasionally
> bickering, but mainly very fond of each other and they toddle around
> happily together.
>
> Nina