Females all laying in same small space.

A few weeks ago Queen Victoria laid her eggs in a small space inside the sand stone (faux) cave. Now this morning I find that Dana my largest female is also laying her eggs in the same place . What shall I do ? Block up the entrance so no more females can lay there, or let them carry on & see what happens? I'm afraid that each time someone else comes there to lay , they will disturb if not harm the previous eggs .

This cave was originally intended for the young adults here shown , but now the big girls have taken it over as a maternity ward.

This cave was built for the younger adults, but the big girls have taken it over as a maternity ward.

I'd be afraid that they will break the other eggs while laying there's. Can you put them in an incubator?

Hmm I do have a chicken incubator . Would that do ?

When I eventually lifted the cave off to see what was going on , Cesar was inside the birthing chamber with her, cheeky toad. Now who does he think he is ? He is not the dad cos he's gay , but he might think he's a midwife , offering moral support or just curious .. I wonder how much it would cost to have our torts DNA tested to find out at an early age just what genders they are . ?

puffy137 said:

I wonder how much it would cost to have our torts DNA tested to find out at an early age just what genders they are . ?

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I don't think that would be possible. Geneder is (mostly) temperature determined. They did find some gentic differences in males and females of a few turtle species though. I do not know whether that is the case for all tortoise/turtle species though. I think an endoscopic examination is the only way you can possibly tell early on.

If you are going to remove the eggs and place them in the incubator, make sure you mark the top. Unlike chicken eggs, you cant rotate the eggs of the tortoises. You'll have to place them in the incubator almost identical from the time you took them form the ground.

Jlant85 said:

If you are going to remove the eggs and place them in the incubator, make sure you mark the top. Unlike chicken eggs, you cant rotate the eggs of the tortoises. You'll have to place them in the incubator almost identical from the time you took them form the ground.

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Thank you for that. No I have just dug a new hole for the 6 Vicky laid yesterday , 2nd batch. She laid another batch on 30th March. This time they were so near the surface I gently uncovered them with a large paint brush & placed them in a deeper hole . I'm not comfortable with incubators , I prefer good old fashioned dirt !

This is a common issue. Whenever I've housed multiple females in any enclosure, they all tend to favor the same nesting spots. Damaging previous nests is a likely possibility. I either remove the eggs, or block access to that site in some way or other.