HES LAID AN EGG!!!!!

katfinlou

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She is kept alone. I have no other tortoises and she is my first ever. She was getting along just fine, eating like a horse, then she got her beak trimmed by the afore mentioned vet and she's never been the same since. She's stopped eating, she won't even take the pellets she used to be able to smell mile off. Then she laid an egg in the early hours this morning. She took the tiniest nip of a romaine leaf today and that's been all....
 

tortadise

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I have had her for 5 weeks. From what I was told the previous owner kept himher outside in an outhouse, without heat or uv light and only fed Komodo pellets. I know shehe was kept with others because someone else I know was given a tortoise by the same person because they kept fighting. If im not mistaken this fighting might have been leading up to mating...
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Yep definitely a female. I recall seeing the beak trim thread too. Some abnormal growth over her years has definitely allotted the vet to mis sexing her. The anal scutes appear male but that tail, size of animal, and plastron is for sure a female. So she was with a others before. I'd definitely incubate and hope it hatches. Herman's will hatch rather quick 2-3 months (3 months being extreme maximum) you can bury the egg in some soil and place it in a warm closet or place in your house that stays relatively warm mid 80s. Tortoises can take some time to adjust, especially if they were in a mediocre environments and lacked great husbandry before. It's rather typical for a new female in a new environment to stop eating. Especially with the stress of needing to lay eggs. So you have the beak trim, new environment, prior husbandry issues all mixing together, she's quite stressed. But your efforts of care now will subside. Once she knows she's comfortable, and feels safe, secure, and in the routine your giving her, she should make an expedited turn for the better. I'd limit handling as much as possible. Could we see a photo of her enclosure?
 

katfinlou

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she's just on a vivexotic tortoise table at the moment which I know is completely inadequate. I did attempt converting a set of drawers but that went disastrously wrong, they were broken anyway but once I put the soil in the sides fell apart... So we are back to square one....
 

Moozillion

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It occurs to me just now that if she's laying eggs she might need more calcium than usual? I wonder what experienced breeders and "hatchers" might think?
 

katfinlou

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She seems to have buried herself a little after digging. There's a hole in the soil at her bottom end which was making me think she may lay again but maybe she's just bedding down...
 

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Moozillion

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Since she can't chew on her cuttlebone right now because of her trim, you could dampen her food a bit, hold the cuttlebone over it and scrape it with a knife. This will cause a shower of cuttlebone dust to settle on her food, so if she eats ANYTHING at all, she'll get a bit of calcium.
 

katfinlou

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Pet shop guy was supposed to order me an extension when I got this one and saw how small it was. He said hed ring me when it came into his store. I got sick of waiting which was why I tried and failed to convert some drawers. He still hasn't rang and that was 5 weeks ago... Looks like I will be getting one from amazon
 

Moozillion

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She might appreciate a few more plants to snuggle into or under.
 

katfinlou

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What kind? Ive got some clover, dead nettle and dandelion seeds just starting off at the moment. I was hoping to put them in for her when they get bigger
 

Moozillion

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Actually, a very quick, inexpensive way to reduce her stress is to rake up a bunch of dry leaves and pile them in a corner of her enclosure- maybe down by the house away from the heat lamp (to avoid fire). My Hermann's Elsa just LOOOOOVES to burrow into a pile of dry leaves where we can't see her. I think it's her "security blanket." Since you need to be able to find her easily AND find any holes with eggs, you might use a piece of cardboard or wood or something to serve as a partial wall to keep the leaves somewhat confined, but the rest of the enclosure un-cluttered.
 

Moozillion

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There's a really great website based in the UK called The Tortoise Table. They include pictures of plants for identification and rate plants for safety. They are one of my favorite websites- I refer to them often! :)
 

katfinlou

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I did have some lovely artificial plants in but I was scared she's eat them so I took them out
 

Moozillion

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Actually, I have MORE artificial plants than real ones in Elsa's indoor enclosure. She walks over them and burrows under them, but has never shown any interest in eating them. I think they know they're not real.
 

katfinlou

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So she's still refusing to eat, and hasnt shown any improvement so far...how long does this egg laying labour kind of thing last? Is it ok to do the carrot soaks every day til she either lays more eggs or perks up?
 
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