HELP!!!

[Tropical Torts]

One of my females has been in the process of laying eggs and she is having problems. She started laying last night and has been over her nest all night. She has the first egg which is stuck in her tail, it seems like she cant force it out, but its just sitting there in her tail.

I dont know wat do to, and am really worried about the egg and the tortoise, Can someone please help me out ASAP!!!!

 

[AnthonyC]

BUMP!

 

[Tropical Torts]

Come on guys I really need some help! She has been walking around all day with the egg still in her tail and I have no idea wat to do, Please help me out!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Take an eye dropper with mineral oil and gently squirt it all around between the egg and the cloaca. Be VERY CAREFUL! Do Not BREAK the egg. Put her under a light and heat her up to about 90 degrees.

You can also set her into a tub of warm water with a light over her.

 

[cdmay]

Been there myself. In my experience the eggs were too big to pass between the opening of the carapace and plastron.
Try and work the egg out GENTLY with some vegetable oil and water. Sometimes you can work it free but if not you must CAREFULLY break the egg and remove it. There will likely be another egg right behind the first and it may become stuck as well.

Usually the cause of this is a female that is too small to breed being kept with a male who is perfectly capable of breeding.

 

[zesty_17]

Take an eye dropper with mineral oil and gently squirt it all around between the egg and the cloaca. Be VERY CAREFUL! Do Not BREAK the egg. Put her under a light and heat her up to about 90 degrees.

You can also set her into a tub of warm water with a light over her.

I am very happy to hear the tort passed the eggs in the other thread (with mom's great help)!
For those interested,
Here is what I did when Cindy (small ornate box) was egg bound last summer.

3:30 pm on a Friday-came home to find her with an egg stuck in the pelvic cavity, barely visible from the cloaca, which was swollen red, and surrounding tissue starting to dry to the egg.
Immediately soaked her in warm water, called some vets, this was before i met Dr.lightfoot & Dr.rubenstine(both miracle workers)

While she was soaking-about 10-15min, i located my old biology dissecting kit from college (sterilized it with hydrogen peroxide, washed in antibacterial soap, then dipped in chlorhexidine), various tools i might need, and Mader's reptile Vet medicine book

I took her out of the water soak and put her on a heat pad wrapped in a white towel, had all my tools close by, q-tips, tweezers, blunt and pointed tip metal rods(not sure what they are called... they look like the stuff dentists use), scalpel (which i didnt use),

I used the blunted tip tool to gently reopen the area around her cloaca, then used 2 sets of tweezers to gently pull the egg, it was obviously way too large for her to pass, so i got enough of the egg through to poke a tiny hole in it, ideally i would have used a syringe to suck some yolk out, but i didnt have one on hand, so this part was very tricky.

Once it deflated, i very carefully pulled the rest out making sure to not spill any of the contents inside her or even on or around her cloaca. I knew she had 2 more eggs, but she didnt try to pass those after this, that's when cindy & i build a great relationship with the exotic box turtle vet here in tampa...referred to me by a lot of other vets & zoo keepers. She was kept indoors in a med set up with heat and soaks for about 2 weeks after the initial egg incident, and once signs of her starting to push the next 2 started, we went to the vet again for more xrays & he aspirated the eggs through the femoral cavity & she laid them exactly 2 hours later. After this, i did keep her in the med set up with heat & daily soaks until her behavior became more normal and she started eating/defecating again. Only after that did i put her back outside with the other girls.

Her egg issues seem to be getting better, and she was able to pass 2 this summer, with one being retained so far(probably over the winter) and we will reassess next spring. I do still have my emergency turtle dystocia kit on hand, along with mader's turtle vet medicine book.

By far this was the most scary thing i have ever done in my life! and i jump crocs for a living! A huge hug and kudos to jrcrist4!

---

Take an eye dropper with mineral oil and gently squirt it all around between the egg and the cloaca. Be VERY CAREFUL! Do Not BREAK the egg. Put her under a light and heat her up to about 90 degrees.

You can also set her into a tub of warm water with a light over her.

I am very happy to hear the tort passed the eggs in the other thread (with mom's great help)!
For those interested,
Here is what I did when Cindy (small ornate box) was egg bound last summer.

3:30 pm on a Friday-came home to find her with an egg stuck in the pelvic cavity, barely visible from the cloaca, which was swollen red, and surrounding tissue starting to dry to the egg.
Immediately soaked her in warm water, called some vets, this was before i met Dr.lightfoot & Dr.rubenstine(both miracle workers)

While she was soaking-about 10-15min, i located my old biology dissecting kit from college (sterilized it with hydrogen peroxide, washed in antibacterial soap, then dipped in chlorhexidine), various tools i might need, and Mader's reptile Vet medicine book

I took her out of the water soak and put her on a heat pad wrapped in a white towel, had all my tools close by, q-tips, tweezers, blunt and pointed tip metal rods(not sure what they are called... they look like the stuff dentists use), scalpel (which i didnt use),

I used the blunted tip tool to gently reopen the area around her cloaca, then used 2 sets of tweezers to gently pull the egg, it was obviously way too large for her to pass, so i got enough of the egg through to poke a tiny hole in it, ideally i would have used a syringe to suck some yolk out, but i didnt have one on hand, so this part was very tricky.

Once it deflated, i very carefully pulled the rest out making sure to not spill any of the contents inside her or even on or around her cloaca. I knew she had 2 more eggs, but she didnt try to pass those after this, that's when cindy & i build a great relationship with the exotic box turtle vet here in tampa...referred to me by a lot of other vets & zoo keepers. She was kept indoors in a med set up with heat and soaks for about 2 weeks after the initial egg incident, and once signs of her starting to push the next 2 started, we went to the vet again for more xrays & he aspirated the eggs through the femoral cavity & she laid them exactly 2 hours later. After this, i did keep her in the med set up with heat & daily soaks until her behavior became more normal and she started eating/defecating again. Only after that did i put her back outside with the other girls.

Her egg issues seem to be getting better, and she was able to pass 2 this summer, with one being retained so far(probably over the winter) and we will reassess next spring. I do still have my emergency turtle dystocia kit on hand, along with mader's turtle vet medicine book.

By far this was the most scary thing i have ever done in my life! and i jump crocs for a living! A huge hug and kudos to jrcrist4!

little cindy! View attachment 13221

 

[Tortoise]

Been there myself. In my experience the eggs were too big to pass between the opening of the carapace and plastron.
Try and work the egg out GENTLY with some vegetable oil and water. Sometimes you can work it free but if not you must CAREFULLY break the egg and remove it. There will likely be another egg right behind the first and it may become stuck as well.

Usually the cause of this is a female that is too small to breed being kept with a male who is perfectly capable of breeding.

But wouldn't a female lay eggs without a male when she is mature enough?

 

[cdmay]

Been there myself. In my experience the eggs were too big to pass between the opening of the carapace and plastron.
Try and work the egg out GENTLY with some vegetable oil and water. Sometimes you can work it free but if not you must CAREFULLY break the egg and remove it. There will likely be another egg right behind the first and it may become stuck as well.

Usually the cause of this is a female that is too small to breed being kept with a male who is perfectly capable of breeding.

But wouldn't a female lay eggs without a male when she is mature enough?

Yes but my point was that even an undersized/aged female be bred and then get into a situation where she cannot pass eggs from the opening between her plastron and carapace. On a red-foot you have to figure that even the smallest eggs are 3.5 cm so its wise wait until the female has AT LEAST that much of an opening so that she can safely pass her eggs.
A young female that is not exposed to a male that is actively breeding, or trying to breed, her is much less likely to be in the position that the female above got into.

 

[Tortoise]

Been there myself. In my experience the eggs were too big to pass between the opening of the carapace and plastron.
Try and work the egg out GENTLY with some vegetable oil and water. Sometimes you can work it free but if not you must CAREFULLY break the egg and remove it. There will likely be another egg right behind the first and it may become stuck as well.

Usually the cause of this is a female that is too small to breed being kept with a male who is perfectly capable of breeding.

But wouldn't a female lay eggs without a male when she is mature enough?

Yes but my point was that even an undersized/aged female be bred and then get into a situation where she cannot pass eggs from the opening between her plastron and carapace. On a red-foot you have to figure that even the smallest eggs are 3.5 cm so its wise wait until the female has AT LEAST that much of an opening so that she can safely pass her eggs.
A young female that is not exposed to a male that is actively breeding, or trying to breed, her is much less likely to be in the position that the female above got into.

Thank you
That is good to know as I think my male is maturing faster than my female.(certainly in size and sexual inclination)
I may have to split them if necessary.

 

[Tropical Torts]

Not sure why she was having trouble laying the eggs. Its definitely not that she is too small because she is 13 in or so, plenty large enough.

 

[cdmay]

Not sure why she was having trouble laying the eggs. Its definitely not that she is too small because she is 13 in or so, plenty large enough.

Those two eggs seemed to be kind of rough looking with calcium knobs on them. It might be that she was a bit dehydrated and they simply got stuck.

 

[Tropical Torts]

Not sure why she was having trouble laying the eggs. Its definitely not that she is too small because she is 13 in or so, plenty large enough.

Those two eggs seemed to be kind of rough looking with calcium knobs on them. It might be that she was a bit dehydrated and they simply got stuck.

That could be it although I have seen her drink alomst every day or every other day; I'm just glad that they are out!!