elf2hats
New Member
About 6 months ago, I bought two female Russian tortoises who had been kept with a male. The seller rescues tortoises and then sells them, and he warned me that they might lay eggs. I've kept them in an indoor enclosure over the Colorado winter, and I took them outside this afternoon to get some natural sun. I put them on top of a large compost pile in a raised garden bed so that I wouldn't lose track of them. About an hour later, I was turning over the compost and was very surprised to find two eggs! Unfortunately, I found this as I shoveled a load of the compost from one area to another, so the eggs definitely experienced some tumbling about.
Questions:
Questions:
- Is it likely that one of my females would lay viable eggs 6 months after companionship with a male?
- Given that I accidentally tumbled the eggs about a bit, is there any chance that they'll survive? I have NO idea what their initial orientation was for top/bottom.
- How long do you think the eggs (if viable) could survive without an incubator? I wasn't prepared to deal with eggs, and it will take me more than a week to acquire and stabilize an incubator. For now, I placed the eggs in a plastic container on top of moistened coco coir. I'm having a hard time getting the temperature to read above 84F tonight, even though the room temp is about 80F.