My Russian Tortoise's

by Carrie
(Mukilteo, WA.)

I have a female and a male in the same habitat and my male keeps biting my female on her legs and tries to bite her face, my female just keeps circling making it impossible for him to hurt her then he tries to mate her, but he can't quite do it even though she is still for him sometimes. I've had her for 6 years and I've never seen her lay any eggs at all. He bobs his head at her and sometimes she bobs her head but not as much, he does it very fast and gets right in her face while doing it. She just turns away. What does all of this mean? I am anxious for them to have babies, but I don't want him to hurt her even though she is much bigger than him. She is about 6" and he is about 4 to 5". I don't know how old she really is but I do know that she was about 3" when I got her and I have had her for almost 6 years! I have only had him for about a month! I need to get a larger habitat for them don't I? They are sharing a 20 Gallon Terrarium. That's too small huh? What size should I get for the two of them to be happy? Thanks