My RedFoot had her first eggs!!

[jareeed2]

So I'm a long time reader, and always come here to read over the great info on this forum.
Exactly 30 days ago I dug up two eggs in my indoor enclosure buried in the large flower pot hide. Noticed one off the eggs half sticking out of the dirt. Unfortunately that top egg was cracked a bit. The other egg was perfect. I cleaned them off gently with a mister. I provided a thin layer of Neosporin on the tiny crack on the top egg, and covered it with a strip of tagaderm. (Fingers crossed)
As for the good egg, I want to share day 1 pics and day 30 pics to see what you guys think.
Thank you!

Day 1


Day 30


Mom and Dad (hopefully)
- female on right

 

[ZEROPILOT]

You can never tell. But good luck.
Right now I'm about 20% with eggs that hatch. My adults are very young, like yours.

 

[jareeed2]

Does anyone know if the egg looks fertile? That white spot has grown slowly day by day

 

[tortdad]

Have you candled the egg?

 

[Anyfoot]

Does anyone know if the egg looks fertile? That white spot has grown slowly day by day

The white spot is called chalking, if the chalking continues until the entire egg is chalked you have a good chance of fertility. If it stops chalking without covering the entire egg it's a dud.

 

[jareeed2]

The white spot is called chalking, if the chalking continues until the entire egg is chalked you have a good chance of fertility. If it stops chalking without covering the entire egg it's a dud.

Ok good! It seems to be growing.. thank you!

 

[cdmay]

The white spot is called chalking, if the chalking continues until the entire egg is chalked you have a good chance of fertility. If it stops chalking without covering the entire egg it's a dud.

Yep. In addition, if the 'chalking' stops and the egg becomes darker with a well defined ring around the chalked area it is also likely a dud.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Make sure that you don't spin or tip the eggs while (if) you are inspecting them.
Rotating or spinning a tortoise egg will kill the embryo.

 

[jareeed2]

Thnks for the help everyone! I'll keep you updated ..
just made a separate outdoor pen for her filled with a mixture of soil, old grass clippings, spagmoss, sand. My male won't leave her alone!!
I'll put her in the large pen in the morning with the others, then later afternoon will move her to separate enclosure for the night.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Don't use much sand. It doesn't hold humidity. Packs hard and sticks to food and doesn't do well in the tortoise digestive system.
You may have to forever keep your male separated or ad another 2 or 3 females.
A male that feels frisky will pursue a lone female 24/7 causing lots of stress.
I have 5 females and my male can harass a different one at will.
Lots of room and places to hide are also keys to harmony.

 

[jareeed2]

Don't use much sand. It doesn't hold humidity. Packs hard and sticks to food and doesn't do well in the tortoise digestive system.
You may have to forever keep your male separated or ad another 2 or 3 females.
A male that feels frisky will pursue a lone female 24/7 causing lots of stress.
I have 5 females and my male can harass a different one at will.

Good to know! I was gonna go buy another bag tomorrow because the place I went only had small bags..
I have one other female, ( actually older than my egg laying female, but smaller) and one youngster to small to tell the sex .

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If you can find plain potting, garden soil. It's what I use.
Nothing added. No water absorbing anything. No fertilizer. Etc.
Potting soil. Orchid bark inside.
Outside mulch and more soil.

 

[jareeed2]

Have you candled the egg?

I have not, want to handle it as least as possible