Reptile & Amphibian Forums

And we did not want them. YIKES!

Ok so what happened was we went on vacation in Aug. & we boarded our tortoise. Well she was mistakenly placed in a pen with a male & we don't know if they actually mated or if just seeing a male stimulated her hormones so that she produced eggs.. but nonetheless we have 10 eggs that weren't broken.
I came home day before yesterday to find her digging a huge hole in the ground right next to her "mansion" & my first thought was "what the heck are you doing burrowing when you have a nice warm home here?"
Then when I checked & saw the size of the hole she'd dug & saw fluid coming out her backside I thought "OMG she's going to lay eggs" then 10 minutes later she did!
Don't know if they are fertile or not but what the heck I dug them up yesterday, drove them to my vet's & placed them in her incubator. If any hatch, the vet would want one for sure, I know a vet-tech student who's in her 30s who has a cinder block fence in the backyard, she wants one. That's 2 very responsible people that have homes for 2 of them right off the bat.

My baby girl was horribly abused & that's how we got her to begin with. I never wanted her to breed because I don't want what happened to her to happen to any more sulcatas. I don't want to be responsible for any more of them coming into this world if they won't have a responsible keeper.
On the other hand after Destiny worked so hard & wore herself out. I didn't have the heart to break all her eggs.
We'll just have to wait & see if these are even fertile.
Here's what they looked like on the day before yesterday

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PHRatz

Thats cool Ratz You could keep the rest of the babies and have a herd

>>Thats cool Ratz You could keep the rest of the babies and have a herd
>>

Even though I went ahead with putting them in an incubator.. I am hoping they don't hatch.
I have possibly 4 people lined up wanting a baby so maybe this is do-able.
Just hope she does NOT lay any more eggs.
(yeah as if LOL)
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PHRatz

If she lays more and you do not see the nest would it be warm enough for them to hatch on their own? That would be kinda funny, one day you go outside to see destiny and there are a few little ones wander around.

If you did find more eggs would you freeze or break those ones? I think I would. Let a few hatch and destroy the rest. I freeze my geckos eggs every year because I do not want 20 baby geckos, lol. I could probably sell them or find homes but I see so many that are already needing homes I just don't want to do it. Iet one egg hatch and that was enough for me. I figure the geckos just lay them and leave them so they have no idea that their eggs never hatched.

>>If she lays more and you do not see the nest would it be warm enough for them to hatch on their own? That would be kinda funny, one day you go outside to see destiny and there are a few little ones wander around.
That's what really worries me. Babies could walk under or through the gates! We can't have baby African torts roaming around here. YIKES!
LOL I don't think she could dig a nest & me not see it though. She made big mess in the lawn where she dug this one.. I think I'd see another if she did it again. I do poop patrol daily I'm not gonna miss it if it happens.

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>>If you did find more eggs would you freeze or break those ones? I think I would. Let a few hatch and destroy the rest. I freeze my geckos eggs every year because I do not want 20 baby geckos, lol. I could probably sell them or find homes but I see so many that are already needing homes I just don't want to do it. Iet one egg hatch and that was enough for me. I figure the geckos just lay them and leave them so they have no idea that their eggs never hatched.

That's what I'd have to do, destroy them because there is no way I am selling any of them for money & there is no way I could find enough people I'd trust to give a baby to so... better to be never born than to be born then mistreated.
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PHRatz