Female paradalis pardalis just laid eggs. Is this early?

[tallin]

I have a female leopard tortoise (pardalis pardalis) that just laid at least 6 eggs. She just turned 5 in May. I know that is her age because I've had her since she was around a month old and have kept a chart of her shell length and her weight going back to June of 2019. She does live with a male pardalis pardalis that will turn 6 in December. I'm having a hard time finding if these could be fertile because of her age. I'm guessing it's possible since she is laying them and does live with our male who I know is active, but in my searches people don't often list ages or they are several years older than just 5 years. I did find one for one this age with 14 eggs, but she had never been introduced to a male. This age just seemed quite young.

Basically, can somebody let me know if there is a chance these eggs from a 5-year-old leopard tortoise could be viable when the mother is so young and if it is normal to see eggs from a leopard tortoise this young? We didn't dig them up completely yet, but we did want to verify that there were eggs. She dug two test holes that she did not fill in before digging this hole, which she did fill in.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tom]

I have a female leopard tortoise (pardalis pardalis) that just laid at least 6 eggs. She just turned 5 in May. I know that is her age because I've had her since she was around a month old and have kept a chart of her shell length and her weight going back to June of 2019. She does live with a male pardalis pardalis that will turn 6 in December. I'm having a hard time finding if these could be fertile because of her age. I'm guessing it's possible since she is laying them and does live with our male who I know is active, but in my searches people don't often list ages or they are several years older than just 5 years. I did find one for one this age with 14 eggs, but she had never been introduced to a male. This age just seemed quite young.

Basically, can somebody let me know if there is a chance these eggs from a 5-year-old leopard tortoise could be viable when the mother is so young and if it is normal to see eggs from a leopard tortoise this young? We didn't dig them up completely yet, but we did want to verify that there were eggs. She dug two test holes that she did not fill in before digging this hole, which she did fill in.

Thanks for your help.

It is a little bit early, but if she dug test holes and then made a finished nest, chances are good that they are fertile.

Do you know about diapause for this species? South African leopard eggs will not hatch without a cooling period first.

Check this out:

How To Incubate Eggs And Start Hatchlings

I put my eggs in a plastic shoe box with a lid on it and put the shoe box in the incubator. You can drill a couple of very small holes around the top of the container, but not on the lid. I use vermiculite as an incubation media. I mix it in a 1 : 1 ratio with water by weight for Sulcatas and...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

Do you also know that tortoises should not be kept in pairs. Your female is living under constant stress if she is the only female having to live with a male that will try to breed her to death, besides the stress. Bad combo!