Clutch disaster

Eric Phillips

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This clutch of 3 toed box turtles was laid on 6/27/2016, I was going to leave them in the ground but my kids wanted to incubate them since they were laid on my daughters birthday. So I fired up the incubator a day or so ago, got everything ready, go to dig them up today, and with immediate disgust I seen the first collapsed egg! The picture shows the rest. Not sure what happened. Anybody have any thoughts from the pic? Too much moisture? Not fertile?
 

cmacusa3

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Dang Eric this sucks. When I started getting my enclosure ready early this spring I came across some that looked very similar to those. I didn't really have an idea what happened either.
 

Eric Phillips

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Dang Eric this sucks. When I started getting my enclosure ready early this spring I came across some that looked very similar to those. I didn't really have an idea what happened either.

Yeah, I was a bit shocked. It's been hot here with very little moisture. Maybe they dried out. I mist the enclosure though, baffled
 

Markw84

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For me I see that when I get a female that lays a clutch in an area that dries out too much. I try to give them a variety to choose from in my pond. It seems sometimes a female will pick a spot that may seem great at the time - the sprinklers just were on 20 min ago or something. But it's a place that dries out more quickly than others. If I don't get to those eggs for a few days, or maybe run into eggs I didn't see laid, I will often see them like this. It seems turtle eggs, which are much more flexible and permeable, can dry out quickly if the nest is not humid enough.

That's been my best guess and obseration as this happens over the years.
 
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