Hello! So happy to be a new member!

[lhardin]

Hello everyone! Thank you for the warm welcome Josh! I have visited this forum many times over the past years, and always found it supremely helpful! I'm joining today because I have a situation that is very distressing... My 10 year old female, which I took in as a hatchling rescue ( a friend of mine worked at a petstore & the owner refused delivery of a shipment of juvenile reptiles & left them in a 100+ degree warehouse in the dead of our Texas summer...my friend promptly quit and we tried to save as many babies as she could, my little girl was the only tort to survive) So fast fwd 10 years to a happy & healthy 90 pounder, who until this year's breeding season was fine in her quarter acre yard. She escaped (bulldozed and dug) and was picked up by well meaning neighbors who thought she belonged to someone else. The house they took her to had a male, and by the time out local PD had got us in contact with each other, they had bred. (which is what she was looking for all along, randy girl!) So my situation is this: yesterday morning she repeated broke the door of her outside house which I keep at the appropriate temp for her, to go out into the 30 degree temp to dig her nest (which was perfect, bless her heart) and so I followed the info online & erected a shelter around her to try & keep her warm enough to lay, with heater & heat lamp & long extension cords, & finally had to make the decision to bring her in (no eggs, just small amount of mucous in ghe nest) at almost midnight due to the below freezing temps. I brought her into my house since it will take some time to repair her house's door, and she has been miserable all night, trying to "dig" in the floor & get out the door to go back outside. It is 27 degrees now and falling, with a wind chill that will be in the single digits tonight. Any help or thoughts on what I can do? I'm terribly worried that she'll be eggbound, and she refuses to stay under the heat lamp inside the house, just bulldozes everything to push against the door to get out.
Thanks in advance!
Linda

 

[Bambam1989]

@Tom may be able to give you advice.
Poor girl, instinct has called, and she must answer it.

 

[lhardin]

@Tom may be able to give you advice.
Poor girl, instinct has called, and she must answer it.

Thank you for your reply! Yes, and the timing couldn't be worse, this is the beginning of an arctic blast that will last all week here.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Linda, and welcome!

I have a leopard that insists upon laying in the dead of winter too, but, thank goodness, she's not as strong as your sulcata.

I put a lawn chair over her then position a light on the chair so it shines on the tortoise. (extension cords, etc.)

I can't help your immediate problem, but when you have time, build a solid nesting area closer to the house, where you can have protection for her, plus electricity. Something she can't break down. Trouble is, they never want to nest where you want them to.

You can ask the vet to give her an injection of calcium and oxytocin. This relaxes the muscles around the cloaca and allows the eggs to come out whether she wants them to or not.

 

[lhardin]

Thank you Yvonne! I hadn't planned on breeding her, so I never thought about having a nesting spot available for her. She actually picked a perfect spot in the yard, and dug a gorgeous nest. If it weren't for the extremely low temperature, I would have been able to leave her alone. Poor girl, she's miserable. I will call my vet and take her in soon as he's open...of course this all has to happen on a holiday weekend...do you think she'll be okay until then?

 

[Tom]

I'm going through this with my star tortoises right now. They lay in our winter here, and they don't start a nest until dusk, when the temps are dropping into the 50s, and quickly progressing into the 40s or 30s as the night goes on. They get so cold that they can't hardly move.

Here is my solution:

I have a 250 watt CHE in this brooder lamp set up. I hang it with the chain about 20-22 inches above the tortoise that is laying and it makes a nice warm area about 28" in diameter around the tortoise without any light to disturb her. I was very concerned that the CHE would burn the top of the carapace, so I checked the mounting height very carefully in several different locations and in warmer and colder conditions to really verify what my temp at carapace height would be. Using this system, they stay warm and able to move at regular speed and they finish up their nests within 2 or 3 hours and then I can deposit them back in their heated night box, which you can see in the background.

I think you were on the right track with your girl. Set that shed back up over her and put enough heat in there to let her do her job. I lost a beautiful sulcata female last year with all the rain we had. She dug and attempted to lay at least a half a dozen times, but it was either too wet where she was digging or it would start raining on her, so she never dropped her eggs. I incorrectly assumed, she'd hold on to them and lay them when she was ready. She had daily access to the outdoors in a 7000+ sq. foot enclosure with lots and lots of suitable laying locations. I found her dead, and necropsy revealed she was egg bound. My vet said "Your tortoise was essentially killed by bad weather…"

You can try indoor nesting boxes, but I've never done that and have no experience to share in that regard. All of mine have always laid in the ground outside and I just do whatever I need to do to help them. Over head warmth for sulcatas and stars that lay in winter, and shade for SA leopards that lay all summer long in the middle of the day out in the sun.

 

[lhardin]

Oh good heavens, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss! That's exactly my fear! I had looked for any solutions to an indoor nesting solution, but there's no way I can fix anything deep enough for her size. I love your enclosure btw, what a paradise for your lucky babies. I guess I don't have much of a choice but to try and fix her nest shelter outside and take a chance...ugh, I'm nauseous at the risk...it's so terribly cold out there...but I'm afraid I'll lose her anyway before I can get her to my vet. In my attempt to weigh the risk, do you think it's been too long already? she was grunting and pushing at noon yesterday, so it's been over 24 hours... and thank you so much for your help and info, Tom!

 

[lhardin]

Also, I just went outside, and everything is already starting to ice over, so where she dug her nest is frozen...should I still try to put her back out? I can maybe try warming the ground first to melt the ice before I put her out...

 

[MrMarg&me]

My goodness. What an ordeal. Your tortoise is fortunate to have you working so hard for her well-being. I hope she will be able to hold out.