Question
6-4-10
I have a 9 year old, approx 17", healthy female geochelone sulcata, outdoor enclosure approx 11x8ft in Phoenix, AZ. Diet mainly consists of bermuda grass and other grasses, and other things. I'm not trying to avoid a vet bill and additional photos can be provided. My tortoise is very healthy with no problems that I can tell. I'm just hoping you can give me some advice since my tortoise recently started laying eggs. Leave the eggs in the ground undisturbed? Or dig them up and incubate them? Last fall, for the first time I caught the male and female mating several times over the course of several weeks. Then I noticed in March that the female appeared to be laying eggs. Until today, I never actually witnessed an egg but I believe she's already had 4 to 5 clutches of eggs. I presume this due to the large holes she has dug out and re-buried. Her normal pattern is to abandon the holes she doesn't like. I've caught her urinating and working in the holes, busy for hours, before she covered them back up. She seemed to dig many test holes before choosing the ones i've seen her actively nesting in. I have been leaving these nests alone, as she seems to be guarding them. I thought since tortoise adoption programs here instruct us to leave tortoise eggs in the ground to incubate, and that since sulcata is a type of desert tortoise who thrives in our climate, I thought it would be okay to leave the eggs to incubate in the ground. But this morning I saw that she had laid 12 eggs in the corner of her enclosure out in the open. No hole dug at all. (picture attached. Please don't judge me on the styrofoam/I underestimated the promised strength of a product called Dryvit. I constantly repair these holes) I wasn't sure what to do with the eggs. They looked recently laid but were dry. I buried them where they were in the hopes they would incubate, but she came and dug them all up and destroyed them. My question is if there is a next time this happens, and I'm guessing there will be because this is about the 6th set of eggs she's laid, what should I do with the eggs? Did she lay eggs on the ground because she ran out of egg laying sites? Should I add some more soil to encourage her to bury them? Or will this potentially further bury her prior egg laying sites? Do you think it is okay to incubate the eggs outdoors, in our warm climate here in Phoenix, or is it necessary to use an incubator? It has been about 90 days since the first clutch of eggs. I have read different things, stating it takes from 88-120 days for the eggs to incubate. I'd appreciate any advice you can offer on this topic. Thank you.
AnswerI would bring them in that are laid above ground because they won't survive, and use and incubator, but eggs laid on the ground may or may not be viable. The only way to know is to incubate them a while and candle them later. You can websearch on how to do that. Eggs moved after 24hrs must be maintained in an upright position at all times to avoid killing the babies.
Those that are covered may be fine, but she is laying in multiple locations so as to not put all her eggs in one nest just in case one spot is not optimal. You may bring some clutches in if you are experienced with incubation. If not, then I would not mess with mother nature until you understand it better.
Eggs that she destroyed may have been infertile.
The most likely reason she is digging holes here and there is to misdirect where she is laying eggs, not because she didn't like the spot. Any observance of her behavior may be seen by her as a predation risk to her babies.
I have a contact in Phoenix (Apache Junction) who is a horned lizard acquaintance, but who also recently took on a sulcata. He has an ASU friend who is a tortoise expert. Contact me through my website at wichitafallsreptilerescue.webs.com and I will give you his email.
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