RT egg right after hibernation!

[biochemnerd808]

Today something unexpected happened! I woke 2 of my female RTs up from hibernation, and within 45 minutes of being awake, one of them laid an egg!

She has laid eggs before, and my male has definitely covered her. I just didn't expect this because she had laid several months before hibernation, and was showing NO signs of nesting when she slowed down and stopped eating at hibernation time.

I woke her up by placing her in tepid water under the basking light, then slowly warmed the water up by adding warm water. She moved around, drank some, and seemed to enjoy the soak.
Then I moved her out of the bath, and she basked.

After a while I noticed she was pumping and stretching her legs. I just assumed she was going to pass some urates. Then her eyes bugged out and she started making panting sounds - I was initially alarmed that she was having respiratory issues, but then saw that she was pushing out an egg! Here is a picture of the egg coming out:


Since she didn't bother digging a nest, I assume she was just 'dumping' it after holding it inside for that long. I will incubate it anyway though, just in case it is viable. The egg is quite large, at 30g. It will be interesting to see if it chalks over.


Here she is, resting after laying the egg.


I will keep our male away from her for a few weeks. I am hoping he will be interested in my other 4 females once I wake him up from hibernation!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

What a story!

Thanks for sharing

 

[ascott]

Very interesting....and absolutely lovely tort

 

[motero]

Wow, now she will have some room for her food. I hope the egg is a good one.

 

[Jlant85]

Hehehe Katie!

 

[AZtortMom]

Wow! That's great. I would love to see how this turns out [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

 

[cdmay]

That does seem strange. But I bet she sure feels relieved now!

 

[biochemnerd808]

She is walking around and eating and basking and self-soaking. Everything seems to be fine. I'm giving her some extra calcium for a few weeks.

The egg has chalked over. I'm not going to mess with it, just will see if it develops. Incubator is set to 89 degrees. I'll just briefly check on it in 30 days.

 

[wiccan_chicken]

Does the low temps she was kept in not affect the egg? I would think the low temps would kill the egg if it was viable once upon a time, though it chalking over is a good sign. Good luck!

 

[biochemnerd808]

Does the low temps she was kept in not affect the egg? I would think the low temps would kill the egg if it was viable once upon a time, though it chalking over is a good sign. Good luck!

Well, the egg she laid right after hibernation didn't develop further, and I finally took it out of the incubator, since the inside looked all dried up upon candling, with no veining. HOWEVER, Timmy laid another clutch of 3 eggs shortly thereafter, and those 3 babies just hatched. And she laid ANOTHER clutch of 3 more eggs 2 weeks after the other clutch, and they seem to all be developing wonderfully, too! So in the end, all is well.

 

[wiccan_chicken]

Well, the egg she laid right after hibernation didn't develop further, and I finally took it out of the incubator, since the inside looked all dried up upon candling, with no veining. HOWEVER, Timmy laid another clutch of 3 eggs shortly thereafter, and those 3 babies just hatched. And she laid ANOTHER clutch of 3 more eggs 2 weeks after the other clutch, and they seem to all be developing wonderfully, too! So in the end, all is well.

I've seen the babies! So cute, I'm glad all is well!