# Problem with egg-laying



## LTygress (Nov 17, 2013)

I have four female box turtles, and one male, split between two enclosures. One particular female is definitely a favorite of the male - I have seen him mounted on her several times.

Well I was just walking past their enclosure, and noticed something bright white. As I got closer I knew what it was - an egg. But UNLIKE the typical box turtle, this egg was not in a freshly dug hole, it was not in a pit, it wasn't even hidden under something. She was in a "sun spot" where the sun hits the enclosure through the sliding glass door of the house, but several UVB lights are set up to actually give them the rays they need.

What's worse is that I have had her for a little over a year, and she has NOW laid a total of four eggs. The previous three were buried, but NONE of them were laid together. The previous three were each about 2-3 weeks apart, in different locations.

I've done plenty of research, and I have had other successfully bred box turtles. And all research says they lay their eggs in a "clutch" of about 2-3 eggs, buried in a small pit. So why is this one laying one egg at a time, and not even bothering to bury this last one?

Is this a sign of "inadequate" nesting spots? The enclosure is pretty large - about 10 feet by 4 feet. and I only keep They not only have a little pond, but they have an actual water fall fountain in there. I also put lots and lots of sphagnum moss all across the enclosure, about 4" deep. So digging is one of the easiest parts! And because it's sphagnum moss, it stays humid pretty easily. There are twisted up branches and root systems from dead brush in the woods behind the house, a few pieces of slate rock making caves, and of course, and grass growing quite well.

I feed them darn near everything from the produce section that they'll eat (minus oranges, iceberg lettuce, and onions), along with earth worms, super meal worms, slugs that my nieces and nephews find, crickets (one of their favorites), and even some hard-boiled eggs now and then. People think it's funny because I go grocery shopping and spend more money getting all of the food for my turtles than I do on myself, so I know they're well taken care of!

So why is she not creating a nest and laying eggs all at once in there? What am I missing?


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## lkwagner (Nov 17, 2013)

Have her previous eggs been fertile? Sounds to me like they're not and that is the problem but I'm no expert


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## LTygress (Nov 17, 2013)

Yes, they were. One of them died because it dried out, but the other two were fertile and hatched. I just don't know why she isn't laying them together and didn't bury this one.

Also, with how many times the male has been on her, there's almost no way they can be INfertile (and she lets him mate each time too). It's his favorite female, I swear.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 17, 2013)

Hi LT:

Welcome to the Forum!

I don't know that answer to your question, however, sometimes if eggs aren't fertile they get deposited on top of the ground.


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## tortoise5643 (Nov 17, 2013)

Yvonne G said:


> Hi LT:
> 
> Welcome to the Forum!
> 
> I don't know that answer to your question, however, sometimes if eggs aren't fertile they get deposited on top of the ground.



But not all times so don't discard. In fact, I hatched my first ever tortoise/turtle exactly one week ago and it was laid right snack dab in the middle of the cage next to another egg.


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## LTygress (Nov 18, 2013)

It definitely wasn't thrown away. I've got it in a little plastic container filled with damp sphagnum moss, and sitting on top of my chicken egg incubator. It stays a good 80 degrees on top of it while there are chicken eggs inside. Once they hatch, I'll move the chicks to a brooder, lower the temp, and put the turtle egg in there. But this will be the first time I've put only a single egg in the incubator.


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