I need help and advice- my female horsfield produces mammouth sized egg

[JuiceeJen]

Please help , for the second year running my 8 yr old girl has produced a massive egg that has needed injections from the vet to help her lay because they've been so big.
The vet has advised that i try to re-home my male to save my female having to keep going through the same painful process - last year the egg was dropped by the vet nurse and they then tried to charge me £ 80 for the xray and injections , this year they charged me £130 !!!! Ouch .
My pair of torts get on so very well and it's breaking my heart that i have to re home one of them- im just wanting a second opinion that spliting them up is the correct thing to do. Is it more than likely that Tilly wont ever be able to carry clutches of small eggs and lay them without intervention- i hope im posting this right because i'm a new user.

 

[mctlong]

Please help , for the second year running my 8 yr old girl has produced a massive egg that has needed injections from the vet to help her lay because they've been so big.
The vet has advised that i try to re-home my male to save my female having to keep going through the same painful process - last year the egg was dropped by the vet nurse and they then tried to charge me £ 80 for the xray and injections , this year they charged me £130 !!!! Ouch .
My pair of torts get on so very well and it's breaking my heart that i have to re home one of them- im just wanting a second opinion that spliting them up is the correct thing to do. Is it more than likely that Tilly wont ever be able to carry clutches of small eggs and lay them without intervention- i hope im posting this right because i'm a new user.

Welcome to the forum!

I agree 100% with slitting up the pair. She can't safely carry those eggs. Females die that way.

How big is Tilly? If she's still growing, she may be able to lay safely in a few years when she's bigger.

I wouldn't stress too much about the Russians missing each other. They are solitary animals in the wild and only come together to mate. The don't live in groups naturally.

 

[JuiceeJen]

Thank you so very much for your feedback , she is a big girl tip to tail around 8 inches .
What is the best way to safely rehome him ? X

 

[Yvonne G]

There is no guarantee that removing the male from the mix will make the female stop laying eggs. Some tortoises will dig nests and lay eggs without ever having seen a male tortoise in their whole lifetime.

Since they are getting along so well, I would keep the male and try to figure out why the female is laying such big eggs. Perhaps send a PM to either EricIvens or GBTortoises and ask their opinion.

 

[Laura]

you dont have to rehome one if you have to seperate.. just build a second enclosure...

 

[Tom]

She might also be retaining eggs if she does not have a place to lay that SHE feels comfortable with.

Indoors? Does she have a large outdoor enclosure where she can choose from several dirt and textures and moisture levels?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

She might also be retaining eggs if she does not have a place to lay that SHE feels comfortable with.

Indoors? Does she have a large outdoor enclosure where she can choose from several dirt and textures and moisture levels?

very good point.