Hello all,

Went to feed the torts today and found an EGG in the enclosure!!! I have a 7 year old, 24 pound female and an 8 pound, 3 year old male.

I have a large indoor enclosure with a plywood floor. About a year ago I added a 4'x4' dirt filled addition so that she could dig if needed. She is in it all the time, but it is very difficult to keep any moisture in it because it dries out so fast and when I water it the surface hardens like a giant dirt clod. I wanted to provide a place for her to lay eggs, but this does not seem to be working.

Anyway, my panic is that this is the first egg she has ever produced and she dropped it on the plywood floor of the enclosure, not in the dirt. I checked the dirt carefully and there are no other eggs that I can find. I would imagine that she needs to lay more. Right away this morning I watered the dirt area and stirred up everything real good so that it was nice and moist all the way to the bottom (its about 10" deep).

I have two other problems - First, I have no incubator yet AND I am leaving for out of town tomorrow for 4 days. If she does not lay more eggs today, she might while I am gone, and I don't want them laying around the enclosure, and I don't want her holding them because she has no place to lay them.

WHAT DO I DO? Do I have to overnight an new incubator? Is there a way to keep an egg or eggs for a few days some other way? What do I tell the neighbor boy, who comes over to feed them, to do if he finds eggs? How can I provide a good place to lay eggs indoors?

I knew this was going to happen - AND IT'S AWESOME - but I am not prepared!

PLEASE HELP, Thanks,

Ben

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