Laying eggs?.

[Tony the tank]

Well the young lady has been outside..she dug her hole and has been backed up into it for the last hr... How long will it take...temps here are in the high 40... I put a dog house over her and a 250watt heat lamp angled in from the door.. So it should be somewhat warm in there... Just wondering how long it usually takes??

I check on her every few minutes..and she looks like she is doing something....

Will she leave the dog house when she is done?? How long will it take her to lay and cover the hole?


Any info would be appreciated...Thank you.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's pretty inventive of you...with the dog house.

You'll see when she starts to cover the hole back up. It takes a while. I usually pick them up and put them into their warm house once the start to cover the nest. They'll continue the covering motion even after you've moved them off the nest. Then you can pick up the eggs without her in the way.

 

[dmmj]

It can be an all night ordeal sometimes.

 

[Tony the tank]

I hope it's warm enough for her.. It probably in the 60 in there....

So should I just leave the eggs there??

 

[AnthonyC]

Good luck, Hector!

 

[Tony the tank]

Well it sounds like there droping...Just not very quickly..I'm going to give her another hr..then I'm thinking of pulling her in.. It's really cold here...and that dog house is just uninsulated plastic...

 

[dmarcus]

Are your going to remove the eggs and incubate them?

 

[Tony the tank]

I have no intentions of doing anything with the eggs...if there's someone local that wants them and has an incubator I will gather them up...otherwise Im just going to leave them be...

 

[dmarcus]

Okay, couple months from now you may have a few littles one's running around...

 

[Tony the tank]

Not unless they can survive 30* temps...plus they would have to dig out of the snow..

 

[dmarcus]

Nature finds a way, lol...

 

[ascott]

Good luck Hector....and much luck to your little momma make sure to let her do her thing so she does not get any stuck in there...you know?

 

[Tony the tank]

She has been at it for about 4hrs now...I have the dog house covered with a comforter including the entrance... My concern is the heat bulb blocking the exit..so I keep running outside every 15minutes and peek inside... I heard what sounded like something droping and she is drooling something fierce is this normal??

 

[ascott]

You say that the heat lamp is at the entrance pointing in....a plastic dog house? I hope the drooling is not due to over heating Hector??? Maybe want to check the temps in there? Without being to intrusive...after all she is a female laying eggs....

Maybe ya otta just put a jacket on and grab a chair and have yourself at hand to make sure she looks alright during the process....you said that when you were at the persons house she was backed into a pallet against the house...so perhaps in addition to the egg laying stress she now has stress from the move and so may want to keep a distance and keep an eye on her....

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't know about the drooling. Mine don't do that. Also, they cushion the egg with a back foot as it comes out, and the foot places the egg on the other eggs. Can't you go around to the back, lift up the edge of the dog house and peek in?

Because I figured my leopard's eggs were not fertile, last time I saw her digging a nest when it was time to make sure they were all put away in the evening, I just picked her up and put her in the winter house under the black light. In the morning, there were 15 eggs on the floor of the winter house and she was away from them on a pig blanket.

Of course, if you DO move them off the nest, it very well may cause her to become egg bound. Some tortoises get in the zone and don't even realize you've messed with them, while others become agitated and may stop the process.

 

[Tony the tank]

That's basically what I'm doing..temp in the dog house is 74*f since I overed it with a comforter... I just peaked in again... And she looks like she maybe covering them.. Would they use there front legs to push the soil back??

 

[ascott]

Oh good....that would be GREAT if she was done and safe huh? I would imagine that yes they would use their front feet to move larger amounts of dirt back to where her back feet can then also push the dirt into/over the hole....while you were peeking did you see any eggs drop?????

 

[Jacqui]

I have no intentions of doing anything with the eggs...if there's someone local that wants them and has an incubator I will gather them up...otherwise Im just going to leave them be...

you could mail them to me, I need to practice my incubation techniques.

I am just amazed that she is nesting like she is. Neat thread.

 

[Tony the tank]

Jacqui..she is a trooper. When I pulled her off the hole..I thought she was just fooling me...when I dug down about 2 ft I found the eggs......didn't disturb them just covered the back up.... I doubt they will survive the winter....

I brought her in...she felt really cold..I put some food down and she is just laying there..


Angela ..I didn't see any eggs drop because she was facing the wrong way in the dog house...but she is done and inside..

 

[ascott]

Oh good...and with all the drooling she will likely not want food so much but rather will likely want water instead.....and a warm place to settle in....good job Hector