strange goings on with herman?

[Andy n Claire]

hi all. i gifted my herman torts to my cousin and her auntie in law as i never had certs for them and i want to concerntrate on geting a good colection of horsfields,
ne way auntie has rang up and said that she is having problems with them she got 2,
they are buting ,the torts are young males i said to seperate and put plenty of hides and rocks to explore, she said that she thaught they were fighting,they never done this with me they were allways fine ad i had the 3 males 2getha in a table she has 2 together in a table the same size as i had 3 in and she thinks they were fighting,she also thinks one eats all the food and dont let the other have any so she seperated them at dinnertime,i just find this strange as theyw ernt like this when they were with me, any way one of them is now burrying its tail in the substrate(sand/soil mix)
what do you think this could be,its the same tort doing the tail burrying, she said she has looked it up and this is what they do when they lay eggs,
it is not laying eggs as its a male i had them all sexed bout a month ago they were 3 boys,
i ust dont know what this could be, as far as i know her temps are all ok and they are both eating

[fantapants]

how old are they?
and whosexed them?

[Tina]

Hmmm, remember all that time ago when you first put their pics up... didn't someone say two males and one female? Also have read about torts which visually look 100% male but are most definitely not and have laid eggs to prove it!

[fantapants]

thats exactly what i was thinking tina! you should get new pics of the plastron and get a second opinion!

[Tina]

They were sexed just the other week by the vet when Claire was trying to get certs for them. She's going to be gutted if she's given away a breeding pair.

[totor boy]

karen (my aunt in law) says shes had to seperate them because one of them had gone past the stage of tryin to hump n he was digin his claws into the legs of the other. she was concerned that the poor thing wasnt eating because he was being bullied. thats why shes seperated them. when they r seperated they r both acting fine its just when theyre togethjer shes having probs. she said could it be mating season and if so how long will it last cos she didnt wanna keep them apart.

a vet sexed all 3 of them together. the only one she took a second look at is flas, the tort that i have and even then she said it was male. they r not very old. because of us not having certs or anything we dont know exactly how old they r. they are about 5inch long now and weve guessed at around 4 years i think didnt we claire?

she is thinking of ringing a vet on monday to ask for some advice but thought we would ask on here first incase it really is just nothing to worry about. like i say she just thought one of them was getting bullied and so she seperated them.

[fantapants]

well it wouldnt be the first time that the vet has been wrong would it........ its happened plenty of times with plenty of other animals too. it does seem to be breeding season too.

[totor boy]

i thought they didnt breed till they were about 8yrs old though? shes working all weekend but ill try n get in touch with her. ive told her to join the forum but she hasnt had chance yet due to work. what would happen if they did lay eggs? i mean obv she wouldnt be able to get any certs for them...

[fantapants]

i am not too sure, i thought it went by weight instead of age. and leos can breed from 9-10 inches (tiny for a leo) so anything is possible i guess. am sure one of the med breeders would be able to tell you more.

[totor boy]

ill speak to her n try to get her to post some pix but its gonna be a few days away yet. she really should go c a vet though right? thanks for your help n well let u know what happens