Indian Star Eggs!

[findingotis]

Hi TFO,

I was wondering if anyone knew how often Indian Stars had clutches throughout the year? I read somewhere it was up to 3, but am totally unaware how far apart from each other? Also, what time of year does this happen? I'm assuming around the beginning of the year (in South East Asia) and my (not so) little girl had her first in February. It consisted of 3 eggs.

Yesterday she laid another single egg - am I right to assume this is the start of a new clutch (she hasn't been digging holes, and lays on the surface) or could she have retained an egg from when she first laid in Feb? It's near impossible to find a vet willing to do an xray on a tortoise in these parts but the egg looks just like the others, not over calcified or anything as far as I can tell.

Sorry for all the questions! Just worried for the little lady. Thanks for reading

Sarah

 

[Neal]

The egg laying season for most seems to be in the November to April range. 3 clutches seems about average, with an average of 3 eggs per clutch. My female layed 3 weeks apart. They can go for as long as 6 weeks between nests.

You're female isn't digging nests? If the tortoise is just depositing the eggs on the surface, chances are it's not fertile, but I would incubate it anyway just in case.

 

[findingotis]

The egg laying season for most seems to be in the November to April range. 3 clutches seems about average, with an average of 3 eggs per clutch. My female layed 3 weeks apart. They can go for as long as 6 weeks between nests.

You're female isn't digging nests? If the tortoise is just depositing the eggs on the surface, chances are it's not fertile, but I would incubate it anyway just in case.

Thanks for the reply Neal.

She's just laying on the surface. I posted before when she had just laid her first ever clutch (in Feb) and was told that it was normal for her to be doing that considering it is her first time. If this is her 2nd clutch, should I be worried that she isn't digging nests yet?

Currently incubator settings are at 30-31 degree celcius heat and 70% humidity, is this correct? How long til I see any signs of fertility, if any? I'm pretty certain the first lot were infertile and had little hope for them to hatch. First egg is about 77days old now but clear and a bit yellow as far as I can tell. How long does it take for a fertile egg to hatch - just for future reference

 

[Neal]

The egg laying season for most seems to be in the November to April range. 3 clutches seems about average, with an average of 3 eggs per clutch. My female layed 3 weeks apart. They can go for as long as 6 weeks between nests.

You're female isn't digging nests? If the tortoise is just depositing the eggs on the surface, chances are it's not fertile, but I would incubate it anyway just in case.

Thanks for the reply Neal.

She's just laying on the surface. I posted before when she had just laid her first ever clutch (in Feb) and was told that it was normal for her to be doing that considering it is her first time. If this is her 2nd clutch, should I be worried that she isn't digging nests yet?

Currently incubator settings are at 30-31 degree celcius heat and 70% humidity, is this correct? How long til I see any signs of fertility, if any? I'm pretty certain the first lot were infertile and had little hope for them to hatch. First egg is about 77days old now but clear and a bit yellow as far as I can tell. How long does it take for a fertile egg to hatch - just for future reference

This is my first season hatching any out, so not much experience with trying different incubation methods to see what works better, but your temps and humidity are close to what I have and mine are hatching out.
I am assuming you have males? Obviously, you won't get any fertile eggs without a male, but since she's laying them on top of the soil I thought I would ask. What type of substrate is she on? Is it possible the ground is too hard for her to dig?

I saw signs of fertility in the star eggs after a few days. If it's clear, it is probably infertile, but I wouldn't throw any egg away until it cracks. Mine hatched in a little over 90 days.

 

[Jacqui]

Congrats on just getting eggs! Another question I would ask is she in with others at this time? Could they be stressing her (or trying to breed), so she feels she can't dig her nest? Just another outside thought after the same questions as Neal on her substrate.

 

[findingotis]

The egg laying season for most seems to be in the November to April range. 3 clutches seems about average, with an average of 3 eggs per clutch. My female layed 3 weeks apart. They can go for as long as 6 weeks between nests.

You're female isn't digging nests? If the tortoise is just depositing the eggs on the surface, chances are it's not fertile, but I would incubate it anyway just in case.

Thanks for the reply Neal.

She's just laying on the surface. I posted before when she had just laid her first ever clutch (in Feb) and was told that it was normal for her to be doing that considering it is her first time. If this is her 2nd clutch, should I be worried that she isn't digging nests yet?

Currently incubator settings are at 30-31 degree celcius heat and 70% humidity, is this correct? How long til I see any signs of fertility, if any? I'm pretty certain the first lot were infertile and had little hope for them to hatch. First egg is about 77days old now but clear and a bit yellow as far as I can tell. How long does it take for a fertile egg to hatch - just for future reference

This is my first season hatching any out, so not much experience with trying different incubation methods to see what works better, but your temps and humidity are close to what I have and mine are hatching out.
I am assuming you have males? Obviously, you won't get any fertile eggs without a male, but since she's laying them on top of the soil I thought I would ask. What type of substrate is she on? Is it possible the ground is too hard for her to dig?

I saw signs of fertility in the star eggs after a few days. If it's clear, it is probably infertile, but I wouldn't throw any egg away until it cracks. Mine hatched in a little over 90 days.

We have one male who shares the enclosure with her, should we take him out while shes being gravid to avoid any added stress? She is on 80% soil and 20% sand at the moment, on sunnier days we mist the substrate with some water. Shes been digging in the corners of the enclosures but never laid there. Thinking of making a separate nest box/area for her thats not apart of her enclosure to see if she is willing to lay there. Any thoughts on this? Or would it be better to let her lay where she is familiar to avoid stressing her more?

---

Congrats on just getting eggs! Another question I would ask is she in with others at this time? Could they be stressing her (or trying to breed), so she feels she can't dig her nest? Just another outside thought after the same questions as Neal on her substrate.

Thank you! We were shocked when we saw her laying for the first time. Looked mighty painful, particularly cos she was laying on the surface and her poor little legs looked so strained. She is currently with one other male (we only have the two) and they've been housed together the entire time we've had them. He kind of just minds his own business attempting to escape most days. Will definitely look into separating them though - but as mentioned with Neal, I am thinking of creating a separate nest box just for her to lay in, unsure if it'll just cause her more stress though.

 

[seanang168]

Hi it has been four months, any news on your eggs? Managed to hatch?

 

[findingotis]

Hi it has been four months, any news on your eggs? Managed to hatch?

hi! sorry, i just read this. only one out of the four hatched, i posted about it here; http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Egg-pipped

(s)he's now 3 months old and a little brat at that

 

[seanang168]

Hi I read that thread on the hatching and just wanna say that the baby is super cute! Congrates!

 

[turtlelady80]

I had my friends Indian star lay one egg once every week. 3 eggs total. Had them in my incubator and one just exploded today! Never saw that before. It was a bad egg. So i have 2 left. Have the incubator set at 87 with 85% humidity.