# How can you tell if your tortoise has eggs by feeling her?



## ForestExotics

How can you tell if your tortoise has eggs by feeling her? 

About what would be the cost for an x-ray?


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## Yvonne G

You can GENTLY palpate in front of a back leg. If there are eggs ready to be laid, you will feel a little marble through the skin.

Here in my city, an X-ray costs around $90.


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## jeffbens0n

I didn't know that Yvonne, very interesting. Is this generally felt only right before the eggs are to be laid?


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## ForestExotics

emysemys said:


> You can GENTLY palpate in front of a back leg. If there are eggs ready to be laid, you will feel a little marble through the skin.
> 
> Here in my city, an X-ray costs around $90.



Close to the tail?


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## pdrobber

I think Yvonne meant the space near the back legs that they go into the shell...on either side of the tail is where you can see/feel the ball socket joints for the legs...they're always there, they're not eggs.


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## ForestExotics

pdrobber said:


> I think Yvonne meant the space near the back legs that they go into the shell...on either side of the tail is where you can see/feel the ball socket joints for the legs...they're always there, they're not eggs.



Thanks for clarifying that.


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## ALDABRAMAN

emysemys said:


> You can GENTLY palpate in front of a back leg. If there are eggs ready to be laid, you will feel a little marble through the skin.
> 
> Here in my city, an X-ray costs around $90.



I have never heard that either, could post a picture of the exact spot. Very interesting!


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## Yvonne G

The spot is in FRONT of a back leg. And you can only feel them after they've been coated with calcium and are ready to be laid.


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## GBtortoises

Detecting eggs by palpating as Yvonne describes above is very easy with aquatic and semi-terrestrial turtles. I've never had any luck doing so with tortoises.


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## ForestExotics

GBtortoises said:


> Detecting eggs by palpating as Yvonne describes above is very easy with aquatic and semi-terrestrial turtles. I've never had any luck doing so with tortoises.



So you have tried it and did not feel anythig but in fact they where gravid?


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## EricIvins

Some Tortoise species you can, some you can't..........Even in the species you can, it is dependent on the individual Females.......

Turtles are the same way........


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## GBtortoises

ReptileStation said:


> GBtortoises said:
> 
> 
> 
> Detecting eggs by palpating as Yvonne describes above is very easy with aquatic and semi-terrestrial turtles. I've never had any luck doing so with tortoises.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you have tried it and did not feel anythig but in fact they where gravid?
Click to expand...

Yes, all the time. When I used to keep several species of aquatic and terrestrial turtles as well as tortoises I would palpate turtles almost daily when I knew they were getting ready to nest. This way I would know which females were carrying eggs and which had already nested. This way if a female was gravid one day and not the next I knew that she nested somewhere within the enclosure and I would have to go on an egg hunt to find them! 
I have attempted to palpate my female tortoises and not once in over 25 years do I ever recall feeling eggs. The species that breed here (or have bred in the past) are Russians, Ibera Greeks, Marginateds, all three Hermann's subspecies, Parrot Beak, Speckled Cape, Redfoots & Elongateds.
I can see where Pancake tortoises might be able to be sucessfully palpated because of their body structure. But even the very small species of Homopus that lay a very large egg could not be successfully palpated.
It has very much to do with where the eggs are carried near the end of their development within the body. It may also have something to do with the number of eggs and their size. Many turtles produce a large number of eggs of considerable size in comparison to their overall body size. Simply put, they're "full" just days before nesting! 
I don't know if Sulcata, Leopards and other similar species can accurately be palpated since I have never bred them. I'm only speaking for those that I breed or have in the past.


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## N2TORTS

With my Adult Red's ....I can usally tell when picking them up ( and of course knowing the times of breeding ect) . They seem more robust , and definitely heavier. Although I would assume I might discover this due to the fact , the amount of handling time with them .
** Great thread and some excellent info! 
Thank you ~

JD~


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## ForestExotics

Very intresting.


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## exoticsdr

You can palpate eggs if they are ready to be laid, by palpating at the location that Yvonne describes....just be careful if you are even thinking about doing it to a larger species tort or you might find your finger stuck when they suck their legs in. Had my best friend get his finger trapped by my big female Leopard, Tortollini, and because he had approached from the front of the rear leg fossa, his finger when trapped was being hyperextended and he was in alot of pain...after I quit laughing, I got her to release him.


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## N2TORTS

exoticsdr said:


> You can palpate eggs if they are ready to be laid, by palpating at the location that Yvonne describes....just be careful if you are even thinking about doing it to a larger species tort or you might find your finger stuck when they suck their legs in. Had my best friend get his finger trapped by my big female Leopard, Tortollini, and because he had approached from the front of the rear leg fossa, his finger when trapped was being hyperextended and he was in alot of pain...after I quit laughing, I got her to release him.



lol .. Love it Doc! ..... Sounds like my kind of luck ...


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## tortiechik

GBtortoises said:


> Detecting eggs by palpating as Yvonne describes above is very easy with aquatic and semi-terrestrial turtles. I've never had any luck doing so with tortoises.



Yes i had really good luck feeling eggs in water turtles but the tortoises not so much. Inhave two right now that im going to go have x rayed tomorrow


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## zesty_17

due to the overall size ratio of tortoises to eggs, muscle thickness, and depth of the shell cavity, it is very unlikely to palpate eggs in larger torts. Box turtles, wood turtles, and other aquatic species you can easily feel, just be careful not to press too hard, you don't want to break one on accident. I have successfully palpated & counted eggs in all of my female box turtles & generally can tell the vet how many to expect on the xray. Xrays in FL range around $80, and that includes digital copies for you.


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## Geochelone_Carbonaria

I always weigh my females directly after they have laid their eggs, then I can compare that value to how much they weigh 6-8 weeks later when they usually start to show the typical signs to be ready again; getting worried, active, agressive, smelling the ground etc. Then I get a good "feeling" if they have eggs or not


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## gsvitek

As an x ray tech & tortoise owner, I would not want to x ray anything pregnant unless it was a life threatening situation. It can cause mutations & birth defects in the fetus (eggs). Why would you want that? Let them do it without torturing your tortoise and young!


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