Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[linda]

an egg....
hi everyone sorry nt been on for months....
my female has laid 1 egg...i have put it into a plastic container with damp sand in, it has air holes and i have put it in the airing cupboard as my male hermans is trying to get to it.
god i hope that it will be ok, i havent turned it..and i guess im going to have to keep it damp, is this right?
will she lay more?
if so when ?

[terrific tortoise]

linda, You need to remove the egg from a damp substrate as soon as possible.
When incubating tortoise eggs, they have a much greater chance of success when placed in a dry substrate, relying on high humidity in the surrounding air, this can be achieved by placing a plastic container filled with water in the incubator.
Although tortoise eggs (back in the old days!) could be incubated/hatched in an airing cupboard, it was more luck than anything else. You need a temp. of between 27 to 31 degrees celsius for a chance of hatching.

The problem is when female torts just start dropping eggs (rather than digging a nest site) it is usually a sign of infertile eggs? She may well go on and drop more eggs too, could take up to a month, or a few days ...T.T.
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[linda]

thank you so much.
troble is she has no where to bury them, the amount of times the male has had here..(pardon the expression) i would have thought one might be fertilie, but they are very young tortoieses too...
i cnat see anything inside the egg is that normal?

[terrific tortoise]

linda, you say that she has nowhere to bury the eggs? I take it your torts are not living outside then?

If you have just one female housed with one male?? (1 male to 3 females would be ideal), then your female will be under a lot of stress by the males constant attempts at mating (especially if she has no escape), the fact that you mention she is quite young is also alarming too.

This does not sound like an ideal situation for a young female tort to be living in, it would be in the best interests for the female, if she was seperated from the oversexed male (not his fault ) so she could bask and eat freely, without the stress of a young male. Male torts are relentless and can be quite nasty at times.

This is not a personal attack at your husbandry, just giving my opinion on the limited info. so far...T.T.
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[linda]

hello sorry for not posting sooner, thank you for your info though, i have tried to sell him, but no one wanted to buy him unless it was for under £50 and i cnat do that. i didnt know that he was male when i biught him as he was too small to tell.
but yes i know what your saying about him being over sexed!! its male after all

im afraid the eggs were not doing anything so had to get rid this week, they were stinking so i cracked one open it wasnt fertilised.

linda