1) I had luck with animals that did not aestivate. They hibernated about 90 days in the winter, but the conditions were never right to induce aestivation. They were outdoors 24 hours a day from around April to October.

2) The best egg production occured when the male was over 5" in length and the females were 6.5 to 7" and weighing over 1000 grams.

3) Fertility increased with time. Either I was doing something better or the animals were becoming more mature, or ?, but they did crank out more eggs that had a higher hatching rate after a couple years. My main male and female were adoptees that showed some signs of poor care, so maybe they needed time to recover and become more fertile. My other female grew from 4" to 7" and was popping out a lot of good eggs. I wish I'd kept my records of that time.

4) I didn't see anything about calcium supplementation. Even though you are feeding them the right foods, it doesn't mean they are getting enough calcium. The calcium concentration in the food depends on the quality of the soil it is grown in. Add some cuttle bone to the pen or sprinkle some calcium powder on the food.

Good luck!

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