Tortoise egg

Lindseyc123

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Ok, so crazy story- but we got a redfoot tortoise from a shelter in February. The shelter told us that he was a male tortoise- so that’s what we’ve assumed this whole time. Basically, this morning we found an egg! Under “Rocko” we are in shock, as well as laughing... What do we do? Please help- any help appreciated. I don’t feel prepared for this at all...
 

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shawngt2

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Wow, Congrats! LOL. Sorry, I know nothing of this subject, but get to your research in the meantime! Likely you will need to incubate assuming it's not a dud (infertile). Was it kept with a male in the last few months?
 

Lindseyc123

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Ok, so crazy story- but we got a redfoot tortoise from a shelter in February. The shelter told us that he was a male tortoise- so that’s what we’ve assumed this whole time. Basically, this morning we found an egg! Under “Rocko” we are in shock, as well as laughing... What do we do? Please help- any help appreciated. I don’t feel prepared for this at all...
Wow, Congrats! LOL. Sorry, I know nothing of this subject, but get to your research in the meantime! Likely you will need to incubate assuming it's not a dud (infertile). Was it kept with a male in the last few months?
I have no idea. I only wish we knew, haha
 

Sterant

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Is there a way to tell if the egg is fertilized?
You have to start incubating it to tell. I don't breed redfoots so I can't get real specific, but fertile eggs will start to chalk and then blood vessels will be visible during candling. Some of the redfoot people will jump in to help I'm sure.
 

shawngt2

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Incubate it anyway. If they didn’t know the difference between an adult male and an adult female then I wouldn’t trust their thoughts on her exposure to a male.
Good point!
 

Tom

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Ok, so crazy story- but we got a redfoot tortoise from a shelter in February. The shelter told us that he was a male tortoise- so that’s what we’ve assumed this whole time. Basically, this morning we found an egg! Under “Rocko” we are in shock, as well as laughing... What do we do? Please help- any help appreciated. I don’t feel prepared for this at all...
Looks like the tortoise is in a small indoor enclosure. Does it also have a large outdoor enclosure with a heated shelter? Egg binding could be a problem if the tortoise doesn't have the ability to walk around and choose a nesting site with deep soil/dirt outside.
 

Lindseyc123

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Looks like the tortoise is in a small indoor enclosure. Does it also have a large outdoor enclosure with a heated shelter? Egg binding could be a problem if the tortoise doesn't have the ability to walk around and choose a nesting site with deep soil/dirt outside.
Yes, we have an outdoor set up, and put her outside every morning. We bring her inside for the evening, so that’s how we noticed the egg was when we went to get her “up” this morning.
 

lightningrob

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Ok, so crazy story- but we got a redfoot tortoise from a shelter in February. The shelter told us that he was a male tortoise- so that’s what we’ve assumed this whole time. Basically, this morning we found an egg! Under “Rocko” we are in shock, as well as laughing... What do we do? Please help- any help appreciated. I don’t feel prepared for this at all...
Consider yourself lucky. We had the opposite experience, getting a juvenile redfoot we thought was female, and later it grew up and started going in heat. (I posted about that experience in this forum last year, it's pretty gross.) We'd much rather have eggs. I've been thinking of renaming my boy "Rocky". You could rename yours "Adrian" and we can introduce them sometime :D

I don't have any recommendations about the eggs, but redfoots tend to be social and like to walk a lot. I let mine roam the back yard on warm days. He also loves black berries.
 

Lindseyc123

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Consider yourself lucky. We had the opposite experience, getting a juvenile redfoot we thought was female, and later it grew up and started going in heat. (I posted about that experience in this forum last year, it's pretty gross.) We'd much rather have eggs. I've been thinking of renaming my boy "Rocky". You could rename yours "Adrian" and we can introduce them sometime :D

I don't have any recommendations about the eggs, but redfoots tend to be social and like to walk a lot. I let mine roam the back yard on warm days. He also loves black berries.
Oh my goodness, I had no idea about male tortoises. ? well, maybe we are thankful Rocko turned out to be female after all, haha
 

tglazie

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Ensure that the ground in the outdoor enclosure is pliable, easily excavated and holds it's shape. May want to amend the soil with something to give it structure should this be an issue. And watch periodically to see if she starts digging around. Most species of tortoise I've bred occasionally lay stray, infertile eggs before they decide to dig a nest. Some of them dig a bunch of test nests, like my dear Lady Gino, a female marginated tortoises. I've had some that would only dig a nest hole when they're ready to lay, Agnes, an old imported Greek tortoise. Definitely incubate the egg she laid. It's probably infertile, and redfoots tend to have a low fertility rate compared to, say, sulcatas, but there's always a chance, and you should treat every egg like it is the last fertile egg on earth, that is, until it's clear that it isn't fertile, which, one way or another, will be clear. The key thing in all things regarding eggs, livestock, farming, all that salt of the earth business, is patience.

T.G.
 
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