# Soft pliable tortosie egg



## ALDABRAMAN (Jan 7, 2016)

01-07-2016 // Today i found an egg that was dropped on the ground within the last thirty minutes prior to me seeing it. The egg was typical in size and looked perfectly normal except it was not hard shelled. It was soft and pliable, like a snake egg. Any ideas what causes this and why the shell is soft and not hard? I placed it into incubation, never know.


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## wellington (Jan 7, 2016)

I had those type eggs when my leopard female first laid back in June last year. I don't remember for sure, but it was two or three different times she laid them. On top of inside enclosure, never tried to dig and she had a total of like 5-6 eggs. By the next day they were caved in. My guess was because they were her very first ever. Later, starting in August last year, she laid three times and dug holes each time and laid hard good eggs. Well some are good, still waiting to see how many. Hope this helps.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jan 7, 2016)

wellington said:


> I had those type eggs when my leopard female first laid back in June last year. I don't remember for sure, but it was two or three different times she laid them. On top of inside enclosure, never tried to dig and she had a total of like 5-6 eggs. By the next day they were caved in. My guess was because they were her very first ever. Later, starting in August last year, she laid three times and dug holes each time and laid hard good eggs. Well some are good, still waiting to see how many. Hope this helps.



~ That makes sense, there were three females in the area that could have been the layer. Sandy just laid a full clutch just about two weeks ago and April has laid four days ago. The other possible female was Diva. She is new to our population, thought she might be the one. Interesting. Wonder why they are soft and not hard?


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## mike taylor (Jan 7, 2016)

Calcium deficiency maybe ?


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## wellington (Jan 7, 2016)

mike taylor said:


> Calcium deficiency maybe ?


This could be possible, but I doubt it with mine, when her diet didn't change and she laid perfectly hard eggs a couple months later. I would consider this more of a possibility if it happened with a female already known to lay viable eggs and then laid the soft ones. Just my guess.


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## mike taylor (Jan 7, 2016)

Makes sense to me .


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## Jodie (Jan 7, 2016)

Lack of calcium was my guess too. When I rescued my female leopard she had broken eggs. When the vet opened her up to get them out, there was also several uncalcified eggs she told me. They were not even hard enough to see on X-Ray. Scarlett had been eating cuddle bones like crazy since I got her. Too little too late.


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## hingeback (Jan 7, 2016)

What about green turtles? Are their eggs soft because lack of calcium?


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jan 11, 2016)

*01-11-2016*

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## wellington (Jan 11, 2016)

If they could be Diva's eggs, do you know if she has ever laid before? I had a couple look normal, except oval shaped, not round and very soft. Then a couple looked like the one in your pic or worse. At the time I had never had eggs before, so thought they would harden. I kept the two that weren't dented. After a couple days they too caved in.


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## wellington (Jan 11, 2016)

This is part of what Tom said when I had contacted him about my soft eggs.
(The eggs are normally hard at the time of laying, but leathery ones are pretty common during this "priming the pump" phase I'm talking about. Frequently they tear open when the female expels them)
Again this was my female that had never laid before.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jan 11, 2016)

wellington said:


> If they could be Diva's eggs, do you know if she has ever laid before? I had a couple look normal, except oval shaped, not round and very soft. Then a couple looked like the one in your pic or worse. At the time I had never had eggs before, so thought they would harden. I kept the two that weren't dented. After a couple days they too caved in.



~ Unsure who's, Diva has produced eggs at her previous home.


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