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turtle egg laying

22 16:05:14

Question
hi my horse feild tortouise suddenly layed two eggs last night she is fine but we are not sure on how to go about icubating the eggs advice on tempurature is most welcome. Also is there anything i should look out for in my female health wise?

Answer
Hi Mia,

Here's a link that will tell you what to do:  http://russiantortoise.org/breeding.htm  Make sure you look at the pictures of egg development, as chalking is the first sign that the egg is fertile.  I incubate for female at 89 degrees F.  I also keep the humidity in the incubator fairly high, about 75%, and I've had a good hatch rate with that.  

If your tortoise laid her eggs without digging a nest, chances are they're not fertile, but you can try incubating them anyway.  If she's a fairly young tortoise and these are her first eggs, the fertility rate is lower, but again, incubating them is the only way to know for sure.  If they do turn out to be duds, mostly likely within another year or so she'll be laying viable eggs and you can be prepared for those.  The bigger a female gets, the more eggs in a clutch.  One of my females started out with a two egg clutch four years ago.  Last year she laid five eggs (all hatched), and then three weeks later another four eggs (two hatched).

Make sure she's eating a good, varied diet.  My females eat weeds only, and I provide cuttlebones for additional calcium if they want it.  Lots of natural sunlight, fresh air, and exercise--a healthy female will produce healthy offspring.

Good luck!  Please post back if I can help more.