# Black egg (and is my male a female?) Please help!



## NovaLove (Sep 3, 2021)

Hey everyone
My pldest and what it seems like, second oldest, hermann eggs does not look good. They have been incubating for 3 months and I have been very hopeful, but now wondering if I should throw them away since they are not smelling so good.
However I have read so many threads about not giving up on the egg, and this is the first time I am incubating eggs, since before I thought my two hermanns were both females. I changed my mind when I found out only males make that love-making squeky noise(lol). And because its the smaller one being in the ''man position''. Can anyone confirm this, could it still be female? 
Anyway I dont want to accidentally throw away an egg with an hatchling inside. It does not smell so good but its kind of hard to make out since after some time the incubator did smell but not awful, it seemed normal. Ive also read that its normal that it gets a scent. Lately the smell has gotten stronger and I do not want to have an exploding egg... I would like to avoid that, and throw it away before it does. 
The second oldest, which is like a week younger then the first, is almost as dark as the first but also has this red orange little spot on it....

What are your guys thoughts? I am so thankful for any response I get.


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## zovick (Sep 3, 2021)

NovaLove said:


> Hey everyone
> My pldest and what it seems like, second oldest, hermann eggs does not look good. They have been incubating for 3 months and I have been very hopeful, but now wondering if I should throw them away since they are not smelling so good.
> However I have read so many threads about not giving up on the egg, and this is the first time I am incubating eggs, since before I thought my two hermanns were both females. I changed my mind when I found out only males make that love-making squeky noise(lol). And because its the smaller one being in the ''man position''. Can anyone confirm this, could it still be female?
> Anyway I dont want to accidentally throw away an egg with an hatchling inside. It does not smell so good but its kind of hard to make out since after some time the incubator did smell but not awful, it seemed normal. Ive also read that its normal that it gets a scent. Lately the smell has gotten stronger and I do not want to have an exploding egg... I would like to avoid that, and throw it away before it does.
> ...


Can you post pictures of the eggs? That would make it easier to answer your questions.

Some female tortoises WILL mount other females at times, so simply one being mounted on another does NOT mean you have a true sexual pair (one male and one female). Have you observed the penis on the one which was mounting the other one?

Pictures of the bottom shells of each tortoise showing their tails would also help us to determine their sexes.


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## NovaLove (Sep 3, 2021)

zovick said:


> Can you post pictures of the eggs? That would make it easier to answer your questions.
> 
> Some female tortoises WILL mount other females at times, so simply one being mounted on another does NOT mean you have a true sexual pair (one male and one female). Have you observed the penis on the one which was mounting the other one?
> 
> Pictures of the bottom shells of each tortoise showing their tails would also help us to determine their sexes.


I have not observed the penis and the shell shape look like typical female, not sure about the tail... But I can photograph the suspected males bottom shell and post later. 
Herr are the eggs.


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## zovick (Sep 3, 2021)

NovaLove said:


> I have not observed the penis and the shell shape look like typical female, not sure about the tail... But I can photograph the suspected males bottom shell and post later.
> Herr are the eggs.
> View attachment 332190


The eggs appear to have gone bad. I would get rid of them if they were in my incubator.

It looks as though they were kept too dry to me.


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## NovaLove (Sep 4, 2021)

zovick said:


> The eggs appear to have gone bad. I would get rid of them if they were in my incubator.
> 
> It looks as though they were kept too dry to me.


Thank you for your response


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