Reptile & Amphibian Forums

last night between 7-8pm my burm layed 1 egg in her nest box, then she crawled out. I took it out and a couple hours later she crawled back into the box. Needless to say I got little sleep last night.Nothing since. She shed on 3/1. Is this normal behavior or should I be worried? She is still all blown up in the back section of her body. She seems pretty uncomfortable, trying to tie herself into knots. This is my first time so I'm a little nervous. Thanks for any input.

n/p

No that looks infertile. How many days has it been since her last shed? The one time I had a female do that she passed
all infertile over the course of 4-6 weeks. But I guess you
have to wait and see.

She last shed on 3/1/06. How would a fertile egg look different? Also any idea what the cause could be? Thanks..John

A viable egg will be much bigger in size. Plus have a nice white color to it. The infertiles have that tan off color like the one you posted.

She still has a few days before you will have to be concerned with her be bound up. But I've also had females lay just a few infertiles and thats it, even though they appeared to have a lot more in there. If she doesn't lay before 40 days from her pre-lay shed then its time to take action. I would then get her out (with help) and palpate her, basically take a shirrt or thin towel and apply enough pressure to feel if anything is still inside her. Or take her to a vet for x-rays.

my females usually laid 26-28 days after the shed so I'd say yours is due any time now. Fertile eggs are larger than that and all white in color. I wouldn't give up hope yet maybe she was just getting the bad one out of the way.

Thanks for the info. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We'll see what happens.

you're welcome and good luck! Let us know what happens. You might wake up to a nice clutch of eggs.

Actually it is fairly common for females to kick out dud eggs in the week or two prior to laying. Don't let this worry you much. If she still has size to her she is likely to still lay a sizable, fertile clutch.
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