# fertile eggs ?



## johnschmidt (Sep 11, 2012)

*Hi !*

My russian tortoise layed two eggs seven days ago.
Ive looked for clues to see if they are fertile or not, but since its my first time, Im a bit low on experience.
Ive read that one of the signs is that the egg is "chalking over", but i havent seen that yet in my eggs, on the other hand Im not sure at what time this happens. What I HAVE seen however is two darker shadows in the top parts of the eggs. ( I keep them standing, since I found them in that position)

Perhaps anyone can give my any clues ? 


Egg one




Egg two


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## ALDABRAMAN (Sep 11, 2012)

I have an extremely hard time seeing indicators prior to 21 days, the dark spot on the top could be an air bubble. Don't count it out as infertile, give it time to further develop!


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## JoeImhof (Sep 12, 2012)

ALDABRAMAN said:


> I have an extremely hard time seeing indicators prior to 21 days, the dark spot on the top could be an air bubble. Don't count it out as infertile, give it time to further develop!



My fertile russian eggs have always started to show obivious chalking by 7 days. That spot is the right size to be a week old chalking. IF so, will will get bigger by the day, you will notice a size difference 24 hrs later. The spot can be seen by the naked eye to a point, and that part should look "whiter" than the rest of the egg.

Let us know if it grows over next few days.

Never heard of keeping one upright like that. Hopefully thats ok. dont rotate it now, but next time, its perfectly ok to put it horizontal as long as you get the egg soon after its laid. Its only once the egg is growing inside that you cant rotate.

Keep us posted, good luck


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## johnschmidt (Sep 13, 2012)

Thanks for the replies guys! IÂ´ll be patient and post if i see anything different.


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## johnschmidt (Sep 19, 2012)

*RE: fertile eggs ? -NEW EGGS !*

UPDATE!

Ive noticed that the female have increased in weight pretty much since she layed the two eggs at the third of september, which i found pretty strange.
Now Ive discovered why.. This morning (19/9) I found three newly laid eggs nicely burrowed in the pen. 

Since no signs of fertiliy has occured in the first two eggs which are 16 days old, I suspect them to be infertile. Ill leave them in the incubator non the less.

About the three new eggs. I belive there were signs of "chalking over" when I found them. But since im unexperienced, IÂ´d like your opinions aswell.

Also, what are your opinions about this,, first laying two suspected infertile eggs, and then after 16 days, lay three more ? Do you think this counts as one clutch or two ? 

*Egg 1*




*Egg 2*




*Egg 3*


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## AustinASU (Sep 19, 2012)

Your not turning the eggs hopefully?


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## johnschmidt (Sep 19, 2012)

AustinASU said:


> Your not turning the eggs hopefully?



No,, all the eggs are positioned as i found them.


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## Tom (Sep 19, 2012)

All of your guesses are possibilities. Just incubate them all. There have been many times when I candled and thought that it seemed like I had nothing and then a couple of months later I get a pip.

I think you are right to just incubate them anyway and see what happens. Many females of many species will lay some infertile eggs their first time. Often they just drop them on the surface while they are walking. In most cases, this is a sign that the female is pretty much ready to start producing fertile eggs in the not too distant future.


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## tortadise (Sep 19, 2012)

I always just let my eggs incubate and see what happens. Im going to assume a male has been breeding with her?if so should hopefully be fertile for you.


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## johnschmidt (Sep 19, 2012)

tortadise said:


> I always just let my eggs incubate and see what happens. Im going to assume a male has been breeding with her?if so should hopefully be fertile for you.



Hehe,, ye,, ive got a male with her aswell,, they have been busy all summer


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## JoeImhof (Sep 19, 2012)

laying two times 16 days apart, thats normal. Both my females have done that. Very common. I consider them the same clutch.

Post photos of the same eggs in another week or two. 

Personally, if it was me, I would not pick them up. You can see stuff growing just from shining light on top of them where they sit.

Good luck!


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## ALDABRAMAN (Sep 19, 2012)

JoeImhof said:


> laying two times 16 days apart, thats normal. Both my females have done that. Very common. I consider them the same clutch.
> 
> Post photos of the same eggs in another week or two.
> 
> ...



*I try and never pick them up during development!*


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## johnschmidt (Sep 20, 2012)

Thanks for the replies ! From now on, IÂ´ll keep my hands off the eggs.
Ill post some more pics in a week or two!


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