Home's nesting questions

[chairman]

During the fall/spring when it is cold and wet outside I get odiferous ants wandering around my house, and this year they decided that nesting in my hingeback enclosures would be a good idea. While the ants are probably harmless, I hate having them indoors, so I utilized boiling water and a complete substrate change to get rid of 'em. Since I was going through all that work anyway, and my new girls had been healthy for a while, I mixed everyone together in the big enclosure.

VERY shortly after I put them together (we're talking hours here) my larger male personally acquainted himself with one of the females. And then the other female as well, though a day later. Since then my smaller male has also acquainted himself with at least one female, but he is certainly much more polite about it. I mean, at least he took a little time to get to know her, shared a couple meals, and waited until he thought all the people were asleep before he tried to do his thing.

But anyway, it looks like my girls are receptive to mating. And since they're not really any bigger than when I got them, and not likely more mature than when they were imported, I figure that they may have also bred in the wild before they were imported. Which means that they could be carrying eggs, which in turn means that I need to make sure that I've got all my bases covered when it comes to giving them an environment they'll feel comfortable laying eggs in. Granted, I don't think they are because they're not pacing or digging any more than my boys, but still.

So, are Home's any different from other tortoises in nesting requirements? Their outdoor enclosure (which sadly they cannot be in full time yet due to weather) has a nice big pile of leaf litter, dead water hyacinths, orchid bark, and grass clippings (only yard scissor clippings, no mowers) available for burrowing into or moving around as they may desire. My indoor enclosure has several inches of their normal substrate (mixture of moss and coco coir) available for digging into. Do they need anything else? Also, when do they normally lay? Are there temperature cues? Rainfall cues? Special fertility rituals?

 

[Kristina]

I don't know the stock answers to all of your questions, but I can tell you that Maude laid her eggs in the fall, in about 6 inches of mixed coconut coir and leaf litter. I had posted a thread about it... I'll have to look up the date.

I did NOT notice any pacing or other pre-nesting activity.

---

She laid somewhere between the end of September and mid-October.

 

[egyptiandan]

If they just mated recently, than the females will most likely lay 30 to 45 days after being bred. Like Kristina said about her female, you'll need at least 6 inches of substrate for them to lay. When my female laid I had a 2 inch orchid bark layer over 4 inches of topsoil. My female did pace though. She didn't have any preference as to where she laid, but they do like to be secluded, so she may lay under a hide.

Danny

 

[chairman]

If they just mated recently, than the females will most likely lay 30 to 45 days after being bred.

Well, that is both interesting and surprising! I was thinking that it would be years, not months, before I could expect my first eggs. Guess I better start looking into buying or making an incubator. Are there any signs in particular that I should watch for to identify a nest? My previous experience with reptile egg laying is with corn snakes. It was very obvious when my female was pregnant and when she starting laying eggs I usually just plucked them up as they came out and put them straight into the incubator. Although, I was the only one who could pull that one off... she was a strange snake and had a habit of trying to bite other people who put their hands near her.

 

[Jacqui]

By Bell's females all have become restless and cut back a bit on their food before laying. I wasn't around when the Homes did her thing, so I can't say if the same was true on her.

My Bells seem to cycle more for egg laying in the spring months and the Homes was just within the last month. I had breeding activity with the Bells and Homes all winter. Heck just today I interrupted the Bells mating with feeding time , so mating too can be any time. Normally rain or spraying the Hingebacks will get them even more in the mood for breeding.

 

[chairman]

It seems like my hingebacks are almost always in the mood for breeding. Getting to spend their days outside, or at least late afternoons, has also helped a bit. For as much as they hate articifial light, they love sunlight outdoors. However, since I just got the girls at the end of fall, they weren't with the boys until after winter was over. I guess I'll keep watching the girls and see if anything changes. So far they haven't been any more active than normal, and haven't done any more digging than their usual efforts to bury themselves for hiding purposes. Of course, that is a tiny bit odd since my boys never dig themselves in. Well, small correction on that... they never used to dig themselves in, but now that the girls do it, one of the boys has started to as well. The other boy, like a toddler, is way to inquisitive for that; I think he's afraid he might miss something interesting.