Please help: My Box Turtle laid eggs but I can only find egg shell pieces!

Artisticille

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About two months ago my friends came to my apartment with a surprise for my five-year-old (and it was a surprise to me too): a Turtle. They reassured me that he was a low-maintenance pet and then they left. Well after completing some research I discovered that the turtle, my son named “Mr. Turtley”, is a Box turtle, approximately 9, and isn’t a Mister at all but is a female. I’ve been trying to follow the recommendations for Box turtle care but I have limited resources. So please spare me any lecture on how I’m not caring for Mr. Turtley appropriately; I’m doing the best I can.
Well Mr. Turtley basically has free reign of my apartment. She pretty much just meanders from room to room. Well this past week she quit meandering and has just been going from hiding spot to hiding spot in the kitchen. Today I have been deep cleaning the kitchen and moving out furniture to scrub the floor and whatnot. Well I moved a kitchen shelf to discover the shell remnants of what seem to be two different eggs. They are empty. Can someone please please tell me if there are baby Box turtles scuttling about my kitchen somewhere or was it more likely they were infertile and she mostly ate them? I’m too scared to look for the baby turtles because I don’t know what I would do if I actually found them dead or alive.
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

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It takes a long time for eggs to hatch. She probably broke her eggs by accident. Other more experienced members will chime in. You should not be letting her run around your apartment, she can eat something and become impacted, can get hurt, and can get splayed legs. Just keep her in her enclosure.
 

Artisticille

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It takes a long time for eggs to hatch. She probably broke her eggs by accident. Other more experienced members will chime in. You should not be letting her run around your apartment, she can eat something and become impacted, can get hurt, and can get splayed legs. Just keep her in her enclosure.
How big should her enclosure be?
 

Yvonne G

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Turtles dig deep holes in the dirt in which to deposit their eggs. You're lucky she 'pooped' them out on the floor instead of becoming egg bound because she couldn't find an appropriate place to put them.
 

Toddrickfl1

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She needs a suitable area to dig a nest or she can become egg bound.
 

Tom

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I’ve been trying to follow the recommendations for Box turtle care but I have limited resources. So please spare me any lecture on how I’m not caring for Mr. Turtley appropriately; I’m doing the best I can.

I don't want you to feel unwelcome, but this is a horrible way to start. If someone doesn't have the resources, space or ability to give an animal what it needs to survive and be healthy, then they need to give that animal to someone who does. The turtle's biological needs don't care about your resources. Not saying this to be mean, or lecture you, I'm saying it because the health and well being of your turtle is priority number one. A turtle loose on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen for many reasons.

I'm glad you are here and asking for help. I hope we can help.

If you are finding broken pieces of shell, then it is likely that some other animal or insect has found and eaten the contents of the eggs that were dropped. Box turtle eggs take around 3 months to incubate and hatch when kept a a steady 86 degrees, so its not likely that they hatched on the floor with no heat and no substrate after only two months.
 

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