A TORTOISE called 'Speedy' has laid four eggs – after being thought to be male for 41 years.

The pet always displayed ''male tendencies" including head butting shoes and mounting objects.

But owner Jill Mancino, 84, was stunned when after a play date with a friend's male tortoise, Speedy started digging holes in the garden.

And a vet trip revealed the Greek spur-thighed specimen was in fact female and pregnant with four eggs.

Jill from Undy in Monmouthshire said: "In the spring during the mating season he would chase us around the garden and headbutt our shoes, as you see them doing in the wild when they’re trying to arouse a female.

"He’d bite our shoes and mount various objects in the garden.

“We just assumed he was a male with male tendencies and thought that all along until I took him to the vet, because for a few days he didn’t want to eat and would stay in one place on the lawn scratching with his front legs and with his back legs.

"I said jokingly to my husband 'I think he could be egg-bound' but really I thought he may be constipated or swallowed a stone that got stuck."

Speedy was purchased in 1984 – the last year tortoises could be bought in pet shops, explained Jill.

Jill and her husband never questioned Speedy's gender, but in May they rushed the tortoise to the vet after it began acting differently.

The vets took an X-ray and it revealed four eggs inside.

"I was in total shock. I couldn't believe it," said Jill. "By the time I got home there were two eggs and then two more when I laid Speedy out in the garden."

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

The couple had looked after their friend's male tortoise while they were on holiday last summer.

Jill said: "We put them together quite happily. He gave a lot of attention to Speedy and Speedy wasn't too happy, so in the end I separated them.

"Whether they did actually mate I really can't say but apparently sperm can last up to three years.

"But apparently tortoises can lay eggs without having to be fertilized by a male.

“But why it took all those years before she’s produced eggs, I don't know."

She said the vet suggested the male's presence may have "stimulated her hormones" to lay eggs.

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

"I don't think we’ll keep the tortoises because we’re quite elderly now and Speedy is going to outlive us I think so we wouldn't be able to look after the little ones," said Jill.

"I’ve had a few people saying that they would like one if eggs should hatch."

Jill added that Speedy is still displaying male tendencies.

"He was head butting my shoes when I was hanging the washing up this morning.

"Maybe he’s a very modern tortoise and is transitioning or something. He’s a crazy mixed up tortoise," she concluded.