At last she did it.

[Anyfoot]

This Brazilian has been worrying me for a few weeks now. She has no toe nails on her back feet, I think this poses a problem when nesting. She struggles to nest on compact grounds. For the last 2 wks I've caught her trying to dig nests and basically just scraping the surface.
I used topsoil in the enclosure and over time it's got quite compact, it doesn't seem a problem for any of the others as they scrape away with the nails. But this girl struggles. Anyway 2 days ago I decided to remove all the mulch and dig the topsoil over.(talk about hard work in 28°c) Today she finally managed to dig a nest. You can see how much she has to urinate to soften the ground to be able to excavate. Look at her eyes, I assume the foaming represents the amount of effort it takes this girl to nest.
Think I need to mix something in with the topsoil to stop compaction, any ideas anyone?

 

[Anyfoot]

Still at it, look how sloppy the dirt has got now. The nest is as deep as her legs now but half full(or half empty) with sloppy dirt.
I can't see any of the eggs surviving in this nest due to lack of oxygen. I remember finding a clutch of hers last year and the eggs were set in drying mud.

Makes me wonder how females would go on in the wild if anything happens to the rear limbs(predators, fires maybe). Would their reproduction attempts fail.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It sure looks horrible.
She might resort to laying eggs on the surface.

 

[Len B]

I have a box turtle that has nubs for back feet and I gave her a sand pit to lay in and she used it for several years. She now has free range of the whole yard so i don't know how she is faring because I very seldom see her or the other box turtles.They come out early morning to eat and then disappear unless it is raining..I used play sand, even after time the sand has mixed in with the other soil it is still a nice laying area, but I would have to pen her up for her to use it.

 

[wellington]

I thought about sand too. Mixing it in. Maybe even coconut coir mixed in would work nice too. Would help hold moisture well without going bad. Hope she lays soon for ya and is not overly exhausted. A nice soak I'm sure is in order for her when she is finally done.

 

[Anyfoot]

This morning I found the nest covered. 5 huge eggs in total. 2 of the eggs were only partially covered. She was in one of the caves, soon as I put some food down out she came. Think I'm going to add some sand to the top soil.

 

[Pearly]

This morning I found the nest covered. 5 huge eggs in total. 2 of the eggs were only partially covered. She was in one of the caves, soon as I put some food down out she came. Think I'm going to add some sand to the top soil.
View attachment 209409

View attachment 209407 View attachment 209408

Awwww...! Poor baby worked so hard! She deserves a big time spa treatment now

 

[Anyfoot]

Just put her in but she wasn't interested, went straight back to bed. I guess she had a drink this morning.

 

[Oxalis]

Just put her in but she wasn't interested, went straight back to bed. I guess she had a drink this morning. View attachment 209443

Aww, take good care of her! Mommies can be so tough...