I recently put a male that I have had in quarantine in with one of my females. I guess a couple of weeks ago. I weighed her on the 10th of Feb and she was 506 gm. I weighed her today and she was 520 gm. Is that possible? Could I be getting eggs? I am not prepared and need to get an incubator and some advice as to how to incubate the eggs (moisture, substrate, temp, etc.). I have done bearded dragon eggs before but not tort and I know it is different. Any help would be great. Also, where to get an incubator would help if anyone knows who has the best prices. Thanks - feeling a little stressed!

Deep breath Dee, I know I felt the same way but I didn’t' notice until Echo was digging holes.
Check out the thread by Kelly (sorry don’t know how to set it up as a link) Tortoise Forum .org / Species Specific / Regarding Russians / Calypso is digging...

Check out your feed and grain stores for a Hova Bator Incubator. They are made of Styrofoam and simple to use. Or you can look online. Lots of places carry them including E-bay. Do not get the one that turns the eggs or that has air.
Set up the incubator and do a test run. I wish I had, had the time to do that. I was crazy with worry I would cook the eggs. Get a good Temp and hydrometer gage. I used my Flukes.
Danny calmed me and let me know that the females ususally stop eating and drinking before laying and they tend to pace seem agitated almost. At least Echo did.

Info from Danny to me;
“To get a 50/50 mix the temperature should be 31.5C (88.7 F). If you’re below this you will get more males and if your above this you will get more females. But above 34C (93.2 F) and below 26C (78.8 F) you will have no development or dead babies. You want the eggs on something dry, vermiculite, perlite or even aspen ( I use aspen) Then have a container of water in the incubator for humidity. Humidity should be around 70%”
“Keep a very close eye on the incubator. It's sometimes hard to keep the temperatures low. Keep checking it these first few days.” Per Danny

Since I placed the eggs in the incubator I have checked the eggs every morning & evening when I return home from anywhere and whenever I think of it. Just checking their temp and humidity and add water as needed. I found adding a paper towel dampened helped raise the humidity to 70%. But I filled the whole incubator with vermiculite. I won’t do that again I will place them in a bowl on the vermiculite or aspen.

Danny stated; "They (Russians) usually take 30 days from mating to egg laying. " So yeh, you could be getting close to eggs.

Don’t worry you will get lots of help here. And lots of well wishes. Good luck and don’t forget to breathe.

ooooooo that would be exciting if you're going to have some eggs!!! that'd be great! fingers crossed!

Eggs!!!!!! you'll do just fine with the eggs, we are all here for you.

I don't even have to post Thanks Robyn You'll be fine Dee, just take a deep breath. We'll talk you through the whole process.

Danny

Good luck Dee! On a side note, my RF girl went from 2290grams when she arrived to 2322 yesterday and she is still not eating. I keep watching for pacing.

Just weighed her again when I went downstairs to turn lights off.....2370 grams now.

If I fill the incubator with aspen, do I put the eggs right on the aspen? Or do I put a plastic container in filled with aspen and put the eggs in there? Also, the enclosure that she is in now (large oval little tykes swimming pool) isn't deep enough for her to lay eggs in. Or at least that's what I think. I can put her in another container. How deep should the substrate be? I should be real moist also? So it stays compacted for her to dig in?

the substrate will need to be moist enough so she an dig her nest and it wont fall apart.

in her nesting area, it should be at least 8 inches... moist and packed down so it doesn't crumble when she digs.

as for in the incubator, put the aspen in a small container and then the eggs into that, then set the whole container in the incubator, and make sure to have another container filled with water in there.