Need advice (egg question)

Jodie

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Scarlett, my recently acquired Leopard female, is 15 inches and 18 pounds. To the best of my knowledge she was not previously kept with a male, and is not now. I found what appeared to be 2 or 3 broken eggs in her hide today. There was pieces of hard shell. I am in Spokane WA and it is cold already so she is indoors. Her substrate is coco Coir, about 4 inches deep in her hide. About 2 inches in the rest of the enclosure with another couple of inches of coco bark.
I am worried there are probably more eggs to be laid. I am going to add a bunch more substrate in a few places to try to give her better places to nest. I am not sure if the eggs broke while she was laying them or after because the hole was too shallow. May have just dropped on top to I suppose.
Anyway, what else should I do for her or watch for?
 

G-stars

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I'm guessing your main concern is her getting egg bound correct? I would keep her warm and see if she starts digging test holes/ and or pacing. X rays will be the only thing that will give you your answer. Good luck keep us updated.


— Gus
 

Jodie

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Thank you Gus. She is acting fine, eating good. Egg bound is my main concern, but a little worried about the possibility of laying broken eggs. Found very little info on that. Just enough to make me worry. Lol
 

Jodie

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So she dug a test hole yesterday and sat on it for several hours. No eggs. Her tail is a little swollen. She drank a lot of water last night. She got up and ate like normal this morning. She dug another hole today and continues to dig 6 hours later. She is trying to dig through the floor. Her substrate is near 7 inches deep. I can't put her outside it is way to cold. I brought more substrate home tonight. How deep should I make it? She has dug in the same place 3 times. I am becoming increasingly concerned. Am I overreacting? How do I know if she is in trouble?
 

G-stars

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Make it as deep as possible I'm not sure how deep leopards dig to lay eggs. Maybe @Tom can help out. Or someone who's bred leopards.


— Gus
 

G-stars

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Your welcome. I'm pretty sure they breed leopards. So hopefully one of them sees this and helps you out with your situation.


— Gus
 

Jodie

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Really hope someone can help me with this. She covered her hole last night and finally slept about 11. No eggs. I added at least 4 mire inches of substrate in that area. It is better than a foot deep now. I soaked her this morning and she ate well. At one point last night when i peeked in the hole there was an orange liquid in it. I assume it was urine, trying to soften the plastic. Am concerned with the color though and afraid it was yolk. Is this crazy? Could she have broken eggs that she can't get out? I don't want to stress her out n take her to the vet, if i am overreacting, but don't want to wait if she needs to go. @Neal do you have any advice?
 

Jodie

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No advice or information? She is normal enough tonight. Soaking her again tonight. She hasn't pood for several days. This has been a continuous battle with her. She eats and walks normal though, so unless someone tells me different i will try to not worry, and let her be.
 

Jodie

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No digging tonight. Starting to think I made someone mad or something. She passed what really looked like the contents of an egg in her soak though. Think I will call around tomorrow n see if any local vets know anything. She is eating good n seems normal.
 

Jodie

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Xray shows 4 eggs. 2 are broken. Had to go to a local vet who sent xrays to WSU vet. She doesn't think inducing will work. Her email didn't say what the options are to fix. Feeling really frustrated. Giving antibiotics in the meantime for infection from eggs. Hoping the WSU ver will give me a bit more info before the weekend starts.
 

Jodie

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Have an appointment Tuesday at the WSU vet clinic for surgery. Apparently it is not an emergency to remove the eggs since she is eating. If anyone has any information on this situation I would really like to hear it? What caused the eggs to break inside?
Is this likely to happen again, if I don't have her spayed? Will she be able to breed in the future after surgery? What kind of accommodations will she need while she heals? The vet said it will take the shell 2 years to heal.
 

Tom

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Many first time layers drop duds around the enclosure. Upon adding a new adult female I frequently see yolks, broken shells and egg contents around the enclosure. Often first clutches are infertile and contain few eggs. Many people don't even see them laying their first clutch since they aren't expecting it. I call this "priming the pump".

It is unusual for them to do this with no male present, but it does happen sometimes.

I have no experience with this particular issue you describe since all of mine always have large outdoor enclosures and get lots of sun, exercise and plenty of dirt to dig in all over the enclosure. I would contact a real tortoise vet before proceeding with surgery. Try @deadheadvet or Doc Westin @exoticsdr . There are also a few good vets here in SoCal or near Phoenix that really know there tortoise stuff.

You might have an eggbound tortoise, or you might have a new female gearing up for a life of egg laying. I don't have the answer.
 

Yvonne G

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It is a serious problem for a tortoise to have broken egg shells inside her. The sharp edges could tear her inside. I would think a regular tortoise vet might have other ideas on how to fix the problem besides resorting to surgery.
 

Jodie

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It is a serious problem for a tortoise to have broken egg shells inside her. The sharp edges could tear her inside. I would think a regular tortoise vet might have other ideas on how to fix the problem besides resorting to surgery.
Every vet in my atea, including the one listed on the vet list, has referred me to WSU. I believe Dr. Finch is an exotics teaching vet. WSU has a pretty good reputation as a leading vet school. They will try oxytocin 1st, but consensus is it probably won't work with broken eggs. I talked to deadheadvet here and am going to send the xrays to him Monday. I am at a loss. This is causing me so much stress. I absolutely do not want to have to put her through that, but have found no one with any alternatives. She ate very little today and is lethargic. She passed more egg content this afternoon in her soak. If anyone has any suggestions i would truly love to hear them.
 

Jodie

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Took her in today for surgery. Really hoping she will pull through this. My vet, Dr. Finch seems to know what she is doing. She thinks she has probably been holding the eggs since before I got her. The poor thing. The surgery will be tomorrow as long as she doesn't have any infections currently.
Thanks for checking in on her. This has been a very stressful, frustrating situation. It really sucks when there is so little information available.
 

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