How do you know I'd one of your russian torts laid eggs? Visually. As far as what their vent looks like perhaps. One of my girls is super heavy. I didn't check to see if she was gravid or not, but I haven't collected any eggs. My enclosure is huge, so if I miss a clutch, I'm baby hunting.
Just wondering
- Thread starter DoubleD1996!
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The egg laying process takes hours, so you can usually catch them in the act. I go around every night and make sure my torts are in their night boxes before latching their doors shut for the night. If a female isn't in the box, she's usually out laying in the enclosure somewhere. Mine seldom lay first thing in the morning or in the heat of the day. They usually wait until evening to start. There are occasional exceptions.
If you know your tortoises approximate laying schedule and habits, you can weigh her daily and look for a sudden weight drop one day. The females will often get antsy, wander more, and hang out in unusual (for their normal behavior patterns) areas of the enclosure when that time is drawing near. They seldom catch me by surprise if I'm paying attention. Some dig test holes sometimes, and others never do.
If the female lays in the middle of the day and you missed it, they are very good at hiding all signs of their deed. My pens are all dirt, so it hides really well. Often, I have to carefully scrape the surface and look for a wet spot in the dirt to find a nest. If your pen has grass or ground cover, that area will be obviously disturbed with fresh dirt covering the plant life.
Okay. Should be a dead giveaway. My box turtles usually lay in the evening and all my aquatic turtles at dawn. Thanks.
That is interesting. I've never bred any aquatic species. Good to know and thank you.
@Tom, my Russian tortoises generally lay during the daytime, usually starting in the morning... And they throw us a curveball: they don't hardly wet the substrate at all. Not like e.g. leopard tortoises do. If I don't catch them in the act of digging, I'm never going to find their nest. And my experienced females can dig a nest and lay in under 2 hours. I've missed nests even when I make the rounds and check on everyone every 2 hours.
My best chance of catching them laying is to watch their behavior. A gravid female gets restless and bitey. She will pace the perimeter of her enclosure, and sometimes ram and bite the other females. After a day of this, I usually move her to one of the male's enclosure (smaller solo enclosures of 5'x10') without the male in it. This way a) she can be alone and b) there is a smaller possible area where she will lay. We have hard packed clay soil, so I try to tempt her with the soft mound of good soft soil that has some coconut coir mixed in. 90% of the time, the females use it. Occasionally the little dumba$$es decide to try digging in the hard clay next to the water dish, or some other nonsense.
@DoubleD1996! As Tom says, weighing is useful. In addition, an RT female's vent will look really stretched out for about 1-2 days. Let me find a photo. This was a few hours after she had laid. Immediately after laying, her cloaca was even more stretched out.
My best chance of catching them laying is to watch their behavior. A gravid female gets restless and bitey. She will pace the perimeter of her enclosure, and sometimes ram and bite the other females. After a day of this, I usually move her to one of the male's enclosure (smaller solo enclosures of 5'x10') without the male in it. This way a) she can be alone and b) there is a smaller possible area where she will lay. We have hard packed clay soil, so I try to tempt her with the soft mound of good soft soil that has some coconut coir mixed in. 90% of the time, the females use it. Occasionally the little dumba$$es decide to try digging in the hard clay next to the water dish, or some other nonsense.
@DoubleD1996! As Tom says, weighing is useful. In addition, an RT female's vent will look really stretched out for about 1-2 days. Let me find a photo. This was a few hours after she had laid. Immediately after laying, her cloaca was even more stretched out.
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I think she may have laid then. Because my males have been underground during the heat, but I assumed she may have mated even though I haven't seen them.
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Hmmm, maybe. To me her closca still looks pretty unstretched.
