Nesting?

[Neal]

I went outside to check on my tortoises and noticed my big female leopard had mud all over the backside of her plastron around her legs and on her rear scutes. I could only imagine this is from nesting as my backyard is fully landscaped with small areas of open dirt which is bone dry right now. I was wondering if anyone agrees it's from nesting or has other ideas of what it might be from? Even if the ground was muddy if she was just resting somewhere she likely would have dug her front end and not backed into a muddy area.

Today was a textbook perfect day for nesting, overcast the entire day and I think we are in the low 100's so quite cool for AZ.

I've looked around and haven't seen anything I think looks like a nest...I don't have any reference as all the pictures I have seen are of tortoises digging the nest, and none of the completed nest. Are there any signs I should pay attention to? I don't want to randomly start digging somewhere and damage the nest accidently.
Thanks
Neal

 

[egyptiandan]

She most definately laid

Now you have to look for a spot in the enclosure that looks like it was plastered. The rest of the pen should be dry and dusty, the spot your looking for should look like someone troweled a mud patty flat. Don't dig with anything but your fingers or a spoon at most and go slow.

Danny

 

[Neal]

I found the nest and very carefully uncovered it. The spot she chose was in a heavily rocked area with a weed sheild, I think that created a problem because the eggs were only about 1 inch deep. With as hot and dry as it gets my judgment was to take the eggs out before the ground dries. There were 7 in all, I left the last one I thought was deep enough and covered it with the mud and put the weed sheild over the hole to hopefully retain the moisture.

So....now I have 6 eggs in a container and a million questions / concerns. I'm about to crack open Richard Fifes book and read up on some articles online. I have never incubated eggs, my wife was encouraging me to by an incubator a couple months back in case something like this happened, but I didn't act on it so here I am. Here is what I have done and what my immediate plan is, please help me get it right:

I removed the eggs very carefully, they couldn't have been laid more than a few hours ago as they were still covered in mucus. I filled a small plastic container with dampened peat moss (the finely milled kind you can get at Lowe's). I took the eggs out and placed them in the container in the same position as they were laid. They are in my closet now which is on average 75 - 80 degrees. The eggs are resting on top of the peat moss not burried at all, some of them have quite a bit of mud on them so my first question is how moist should I keep the eggs? I am concerned the mud will dry and crack, and crack the eggs also.

Well, I intend on asking a lot more, but I need to tend to my daughter right now, I'll keep checking for responses...if there is anything you can determine from my explanation that requires urgency please PM me and I will send you my phone number.
Thanks
Neal

 

[egyptiandan]

I would have personally brought in all the eggs. You can by all means wash the eggs off if your worried about the mud (which is going to bother the eggs all that much ). Just run them under warm water and rub off the mud. At this early stage it makes no never mind to the eggs which end is up as they haven't started to develop yet.
Than dry them off and write the date in pencil on the eggs. This will become the top of the eggs.
I wouldn't incubate Leopard eggs on anything wet or damp. Your probably better using some dirt from outside than the peatmoss. Don't wet the dirt, but you will need air humidity around the eggs.
Now onto the temperature. The eggs won't develop at those temperatures. You need to have the temperatures between 83 and 90F.
Your eggs will be fine for a week at the temperatures that you have them at, so I can only say that you should look for an incubator ASAP. Call local feed and grain stores. If they don't have any you can order one on-line, just have them send it to you as fast as possible.

Danny

 

[Neal]

Danny, thank you!
I thought my temps were a bit low too so I moved them to the garage, which is still only 80 degrees (in Arizona of all places, go figure). I talked to someone at a reptile store here and he's is going to give me some incubation soil, which the name escapes me at the moment, but he incubates tortoise eggs all the time so he will give me some further help when I go in tomorrow. I drilled holes in the lid of the plastic box I have them in and placed that on top, so that should keep the air humidity up. The soil is damp, but not as damp as the nest was so I think they will be alright until I change them out tomorrow.

As far as incubators go, I am interested in the one sold by LLL Reptile: LLLReptile Pro MR-148 Incubator, is there a better option out there? I'm not planning on making a business out of breeding tortoises or anything, so based on my research this size and model should suit my needs. However I don't think they could get it to me soon enough, so my next option is the hova bator sold at my reptile store, but am unsure about it...can anyone give me some advice on which to go with or another option?
Thanks again!
Neal

 

[egyptiandan]

Not a thing wrong with the Hova-bator. They make very good incubators. Just make sure to get the temperature set before you put the eggs in. This will take about 24 hours.

Danny

 

[Dave D]

Congrats on the eggs!

I just had the same situation happen to me. My female laid 7 eggs as well. I was reading Richard Fifes book which at one point says that he has left eggs at 65f for 30 days to break the diapause so they start developing.

I still have them in the incubator at 88f. Danny, I was just wondering if you have any experience with keeping them at lower temps first or if they should do just fine at a consistent higher temperature?

Thanks
Dave