# Bad news..



## MichaelL (Apr 15, 2021)

I am so mad at myself. I had been suspecting my female would lay a second clutch and today I felt her and she felt lighter and her tail looked a bit stretched. I checked around the enclosure and found the entrance of her burrow a little dug up with loose dirt. However, I was in a rush and I was digging up that area and all of the sudden, I completely crushed the lone egg! I am so mad at myself and will have a hard time getting over this, I only have one egg from her in the incubator and have wanted eggs for years.

I can't believe I am stupid enough to be so uncareful. I am NEVER going to rush digging for an egg again and I am SO mad I possibly didn't allow a little russian tortoise to be born. 

And what makes it worse is that my female is a smaller female, having laid two clutches so far with one egg each. I don't really expect a third clutch based on her size and this being her first year having eggs, so I assume the next time I'll get eggs is next year, and that is so so far away..

Let this be a lesson for anyone else! NEVER RUSH TO UNBURY AN EGG! Especially if your tortoise doesn't lay very many, because the amount of regret I feel is huge! If only I could just go back in time and lightly uncover it... It would be in the incubator with the other one right now...


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## zovick (Apr 15, 2021)

MichaelL said:


> I am so mad at myself. I had been suspecting my female would lay a second clutch and today I felt her and she felt lighter and her tail looked a bit stretched. I checked around the enclosure and found the entrance of her burrow a little dug up with loose dirt. However, I was in a rush and I was digging up that area and all of the sudden, I completely crushed the lone egg! I am so mad at myself and will have a hard time getting over this, I only have one egg from her in the incubator and have wanted eggs for years.
> 
> I can't believe I am stupid enough to be so uncareful. I am NEVER going to rush digging for an egg again and I am SO mad I possibly didn't allow a little russian tortoise to be born.
> 
> ...


Very sad, but a valuable experience for the future. Good luck with the egg which is incubating now. 

I have an observation from my experience which might cheer you up a bit. I bred Star Tortoises for many years and had females of various sizes. Over the years, I noticed that the larger females usually laid two clutches yearly of 5-7 eggs each while the smaller ones often laid three or four yearly clutches of 2-3 eggs each. 

Maybe your female will surprise you and lay another egg in 6-7 weeks. I would recommend that you keep an eye out for that possibility, just in case. Maybe you'll get lucky and get one more egg this year!


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## Blackdog1714 (Apr 15, 2021)

I would yell at you but dang you beat your own self up! Accidents happen and you will never do it again! Best wishes


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## Tom (Apr 15, 2021)

Ughhhh... That sucks. Been there. Done that. I know how awful it feels. Sorry man.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Apr 15, 2021)

MichaelL said:


> I am so mad at myself. I had been suspecting my female would lay a second clutch and today I felt her and she felt lighter and her tail looked a bit stretched. I checked around the enclosure and found the entrance of her burrow a little dug up with loose dirt. However, I was in a rush and I was digging up that area and all of the sudden, I completely crushed the lone egg! I am so mad at myself and will have a hard time getting over this, I only have one egg from her in the incubator and have wanted eggs for years.
> 
> I can't believe I am stupid enough to be so uncareful. I am NEVER going to rush digging for an egg again and I am SO mad I possibly didn't allow a little russian tortoise to be born.
> 
> ...


Don't be too hard on yourself,It happens man. You live and you learn.


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## wellington (Apr 15, 2021)

I am so sorry. I know how you feel. I did even worse. My female leopard laid eggs that I didn't know about. I couldn't see into the nest box without a ladder so because I never seen her even act like she would lay, I never checked the box. A year later when I was redoing things, I looked into the box and what did I find? A dead baby leopard. I was just sick and heart broken. It still makes me sad when I think of it, and what that poor baby went thru. 
Accidents happen. We would never have done it on purpose.


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## MichaelL (Apr 15, 2021)

zovick said:


> Very sad, but a valuable experience for the future. Good luck with the egg which is incubating now.
> 
> I have an observation from my experience which might cheer you up a bit. I bred Star Tortoises for many years and had females of various sizes. Over the years, I noticed that the larger females usually laid two clutches yearly of 5-7 eggs each while the smaller ones often laid three or four yearly clutches of 2-3 eggs each.
> 
> Maybe your female will surprise you and lay another egg in 6-7 weeks. I would recommend that you keep an eye out for that possibility, just in case. Maybe you'll get lucky and get one more egg this year!


That actually does make me feel better... Thank u


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## MichaelL (Apr 15, 2021)

wellington said:


> I am so sorry. I know how you feel. I did even worse. My female leopard laid eggs that I didn't know about. I couldn't see into the nest box without a ladder so because I never seen her even act like she would lay, I never checked the box. A year later when I was redoing things, I looked into the box and what did I find? A dead baby leopard. I was just sick and heart broken. It still makes me sad when I think of it, and what that poor baby went thru.
> Accidents happen. We would never have done it on purpose.


Thank you... yeah it does suck


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## MichaelL (Apr 15, 2021)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> Don't be too hard on yourself,It happens man. You live and you learn.


Thank you man


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## Hutsie B (Apr 16, 2021)

So sorry, at least you have one egg and you have learned how to take care of another nest.


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## Carol S (Apr 17, 2021)

I am sorry to hear this. I know how you feel as several years ago I did the same thing. I did not realize how close to the surface she had laid her eggs and I was not being careful enough and I broke the egg closest to the surface. ?


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## MichaelL (Apr 17, 2021)

Carol S said:


> I am sorry to hear this. I know how you feel as several years ago I did the same thing. I did not realize how close to the surface she had laid her eggs and I was not being careful enough and I broke the egg closest to the surface. ?


Yeah it sucks.. Just really hoping she'll lay one more clutch this year. Even if she doesn't though, I have the other and I'm thankful.


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