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Owner's shock as 'male' tortoise lays eggs

Rowenna Hoskin
BBC News
Jill Mancino Speedy the tortoise sits on the grass in a garden. She has a brown and beige shell and a scaly head and legs. Jill Mancino
Speedy the tortoise was believed to be a boy because in the spring she would "mount" things in the garden

Speedy was always assumed to be male by her owners of 41 years, so when she laid four eggs, they were shocked.

Jill Mancino said the tortoise "displayed male tendencies" of "head butting" and "mounting various objects in the garden", but after a play date with their friend's male tortoise, everything changed.

Jill, 84, from Undy in Monmouthshire, said Speedy "began behaving strangely" by digging holes in the garden and not eating.

A vet trip revealed the Greek spur-thighed tortoise was in fact female and pregnant.

Jill Mancino An X-ray scan of a tortoise, with four clear eggs in its body.Jill Mancino
The vet did an X-ray to figure out what could be wrong with Speedy, and discovered four eggs

Speedy, 44, has lived with Jill and her husband for almost half a century, and spends her time relaxing or sunbathing in the garden.

Jill said in May they rushed Speedy to the vet after she looked "distressed".

"By the time I got him home, he had laid two eggs - she I should say - then when I put her out in the garden she laid four more," she said.

"I couldn't believe it, I was in total shock."

Jill said she buried all four eggs in a large flower pot covered by a plastic box to protect them.

Jill Mancino Speedy the tortoise in the garden, plants and mud visible. She seems to have dug a hole and two white eggs are visible beneath her. Jill Mancino
After Speedy returned from the vet with two eggs, she laid another two in the garden

Jill said they had looked after their friend's male tortoise - called Katie - while they were on holiday last summer.

"That's the only time Speedy has been with another tortoise," she said.

"Whether they have been fertilised I really don't know."

She said the vet suggested Katie's presence may have "stimulated her hormones".

They have to wait eight to 10 weeks for the eggs to incubate to see if there are any baby tortoises.

Tortoises can live anywhere from 25 to 100 years depending on their species and genetics.

According to Chessington Garden Centre, Greek spur-thighed tortoises usually live for at least 50 years, if not reaching 80 to 100 years old.

"I think Speedy's going to outlive us so I don't think we'd have the babies," Jill said.