Russian Tortoise died while laying eggs?

[FreeRangeTort]

I have a friend sitting our 3 Russian tortoises. I just received a report that he found two eggs in the enclosure, and one tortoise had died.

I'm thinking that something happened in the egg laying process that resulted in the death of the tortoise. Is this something that is common/precedented?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[KarenSoCal]

I'm really not able to answer questions about eggs as I have a male!

However, are the 3 tortoises living in the same enclosure together? Do you know the gender of each of them?

How long have they been with the sitter, and how observant is s(he)?

I'm asking these particular questions because if they live together, there is a possibility that the one that died was being bullied by one or both of the others. Unless the sitter is acquainted with the ways of torts, s(he) may have thought they were being cute together.

I am sorry about your tortoise however she died.

And welcome to the forum!

I've attached a care sheet for your torts.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

I have a friend sitting our 3 Russian tortoises. I just received a report that he found two eggs in the enclosure, and one tortoise had died.

I'm thinking that something happened in the egg laying process that resulted in the death of the tortoise. Is this something that is common/precedented?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Without a lot more info, we are only guessing. Could be related, or could have nothing to do with the eggs.

How are they being housed? Indoors or out? What size enclosure? Substrate? Has this female laid before? Where is Longwood?

They can die from being egg bound, but if the tortoise passed two eggs, then it wasn't egg bound.