Yes welcome to the Forum. How long had they had the female?

Thanks for the warm welcome! I am going to speak to my friends and find out as much as possible about Eggbert's parents. I'll report back.

Thanks again!

Derek

Itort,

I spoke with my friends and they did have a herpetologist come to their house after they arrived home to find their patio a mess due to their female digging a nest next to it.

The story...

They have had their female desert tortoise for about 10 years and are unsure of her age since she was given to them almost fully grown. They had an older/larger male sulcata, which they thought was fighting with their female but it was actually constantly trying to mate with her. They separated them about 4 years ago and some time after the female made the mess next to the patio and the herpetologist was called.

The herpetologist told them it was possible for the two to mate and when the first eggs hatched there were 14 baby tortoises. My friend said the female can be fertile for a few years, which I find shocking. The female continued to lay eggs and the number of babies decreased with each subsequent nest dug. Eggbert was 1 of 3 hatchlings and his "birthday" is actually Sept. 10, 2006, which makes Eggbert a year and a half old.

It will be interesting to see what Eggbert's habits are considering his/her parentage.

Wow, that was an interesting story and I am looking forward to watching Eggbert grow up on the forum. He is definitely one unique tort. Thanks for sharing that with us.