# My Herman is laying eggs!



## Penny Feasey (Jan 19, 2013)

Some advise please, woke up yesterday to find an egg sitting in with our two tortoises, after taking some advise from the local reptile centre, we moved the egg into a poly box and set of today and bought an incubator. 

Having set the incubator to 30 degrees I have now rested the egg in a dish set on cotton wool to keep it stable! And placed a container of water in there too.... 

She has since laid another and I have placed this one in a separate container in the incubator...

On returning to the tortoises she is now laying very still in the soft soil

Questions:

Have I done the incubator correctly?
Should I separate her from the male who keeps climbing on her?
Should I cover the eggs as suggested by the reptile Center?


Please please help first time mum!!


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## Pokeymeg (Jan 19, 2013)

How exciting!!! My male Hermann doesn't have a lady friend yet, so I haven't dealt with this yet - I'm sure someone will be along soon to give you answers!

I'm not a breeding expert, but I would say YES to separating the male from her for now!


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## kimber_lee_314 (Jan 19, 2013)

Congrats!!! Not to rain on your parade - but if the eggs were laid on top of the soil (not in any kind of nest) they often are not fertile. But this isn't always true - I have had some hatch from time to time so treating them as fertile eggs is good. I keep my eggs on moist vermiculite with a dish of water in the incubator. I've never know anyone to use cotton to put the eggs on, but I don't see why it would be a problem. I don't cover my tortoise eggs (only the turtle eggs.) I also don't separate my male from the females, but if he's bothering her - you can. Good luck to you and the eggs!!!


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## Penny Feasey (Jan 20, 2013)

Thank you so much! She is still acting strange today and is very hungry, how long will she labour for? The reptile centre said 2 weeks!!! That seems an awful long time, Is this correct??


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## kimber_lee_314 (Jan 20, 2013)

No, she should have laid all of them by now. If she is acting listless and not eating, she might be egg bound. She should be acting in her normal fashion.


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