Breeding Egyptian tortoises
- Thread starter Mina Adel
- Start date
My Egyptians lay about 1-2 eggs every other month. My smallest egg weighs 3g and my largest about 12 grams but the average has been about 8 grams.
yeah my 3gram egg doesn't appear to be fertile. I'm not sure how old my largest female is but I was told maybe 15 years. She is about 5 inches and 380 grams
For my substrate I use a mixture of mostly oyster shell mixed with some vita-sand a small amount of coco coir. I think the most important thing to have is a lot of light to stimulate breeding. I also turn off my heat bulbs at night so that they can cool off to about 70-72 degrees at night. I have my thermostat in the room set to 70. Im not a expert at breeding these guys. I've only had my group (2.3) since Oct 2015 but so far I have 11 eggs, 3 look like they are not fertile. Im hoping for new hatching late march or early april (will not be for sale)
Mina, are you trying to breed these guys, What do you have to work with? Whats you're setup like?
Mina, are you trying to breed these guys, What do you have to work with? Whats you're setup like?
Thxs for sharing your pics!
From my observations my tortoises generally like the substrate to be about 3/4-1/2 their plastron length plus the length of their legs. Depends how picky they are too. I have one that's more pickier than the other two. Your tortoise will let you know.... Just watch them and if you notice they keep digging, digging, diggin and start to hit the bottom lining of the cage with their toes and then start to look around for other areas... if this happens then you'll know your substrate is too shallow.
I think you need to have a mixed of substrate, not just oyster shell. A mixture that will hold shape when a hole is dug. My torts like to lay their eggs under my plant after i over water it because the water runs off is just enough to moisten the sand and oyster mixture allowing it to hold a shape. They won't lay any eggs in a hole where the sides are caving in on them. My specific tort group likes to lay their eggs between 0730-0800 am to 1030-1100. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours for the whole process. I also keep my plant close to my heat source so the substrate under the plant is warm.
Nutrition is important
I have found that if I don't supplement with calcium almost every day and mineral supplement once/ twice a week then the torts will lay broken eggs!
I feed mazuri tortoise diet softened with water then I mix in different dried herbs like red clover, marshmellow, dandelion...and so on. You can buy these dried herbs online. They also get organic dark leafy salad mix once-twice a week, never any fruit.
Thats my observations and experience . Hope that helps!
From my observations my tortoises generally like the substrate to be about 3/4-1/2 their plastron length plus the length of their legs. Depends how picky they are too. I have one that's more pickier than the other two. Your tortoise will let you know.... Just watch them and if you notice they keep digging, digging, diggin and start to hit the bottom lining of the cage with their toes and then start to look around for other areas... if this happens then you'll know your substrate is too shallow.
I think you need to have a mixed of substrate, not just oyster shell. A mixture that will hold shape when a hole is dug. My torts like to lay their eggs under my plant after i over water it because the water runs off is just enough to moisten the sand and oyster mixture allowing it to hold a shape. They won't lay any eggs in a hole where the sides are caving in on them. My specific tort group likes to lay their eggs between 0730-0800 am to 1030-1100. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours for the whole process. I also keep my plant close to my heat source so the substrate under the plant is warm.
Nutrition is important
I have found that if I don't supplement with calcium almost every day and mineral supplement once/ twice a week then the torts will lay broken eggs!
I feed mazuri tortoise diet softened with water then I mix in different dried herbs like red clover, marshmellow, dandelion...and so on. You can buy these dried herbs online. They also get organic dark leafy salad mix once-twice a week, never any fruit.
Thats my observations and experience . Hope that helps!
Similar threads
