Emmy is one of my favorite ornate box turtles. I bred her last summer and chose not to hibernate her this winter since she had a bout of bad respiratory illness when she woke up from hibernation last year. Well since she was under nice warm summer temps in her indoor setup she was ready to lay eggshells February! She was tearing up her bin which is unusual for her and is prompted me to take the X-ray. 4 eggs! Super excited!
But Emmy didn't make it easy...she didn't lay her eggs on her own despite box turtles almost always laying their eggs just fine or needing minimal intervention. I had to induce egg laying medically because it became clear they were in no rush to come out and if they're in there too long they can adhere to the oviduct. She laid two eggs almost immediately but there were still two more. Well one ended up getting stuck and started getting even bigger! Despite several attempts at medical induction she made no progress.
Since it was well and truly stuck she ended up needing endoscopy to go in and break the egg so it would collapse and be small enough that she could pass it. This is her getting scoped under sedation. I'll try to post the video. But she passed the collapsed egg waking up from sedation!
She laid the last egg on her own a few days later but one of the girls took a bite out of it before I found it. -_- But two good eggs in the incubator looking great so far!
But Emmy didn't make it easy...she didn't lay her eggs on her own despite box turtles almost always laying their eggs just fine or needing minimal intervention. I had to induce egg laying medically because it became clear they were in no rush to come out and if they're in there too long they can adhere to the oviduct. She laid two eggs almost immediately but there were still two more. Well one ended up getting stuck and started getting even bigger! Despite several attempts at medical induction she made no progress.
Since it was well and truly stuck she ended up needing endoscopy to go in and break the egg so it would collapse and be small enough that she could pass it. This is her getting scoped under sedation. I'll try to post the video. But she passed the collapsed egg waking up from sedation!
She laid the last egg on her own a few days later but one of the girls took a bite out of it before I found it. -_- But two good eggs in the incubator looking great so far!
