Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was carelessly digging up the dirt in my russian tortoise pen after what I assumed was a disappointing summer (for breeding). I assumed the male was too small, and that's why I hadn't seen any egg production. I was wrong, as I found six eggs so far (have stopped digging), and unfortunately, they were all in the pile of dirt that I had moved (therefore, they had turned). Three of the eggs are old/cracked/etc. but the other three are in perfect condition, except that they have been turned! ::slaps forehead::

They are in the 'banding' part of development, where the black spot forms a band around the eggs, and I can't find any thing that differentiates between what side should be up and which down. I'm assuming it's probably a lost cause, though I'll still incubate them, but I was just wondering if there's anyway to re-orient eggs that have been turned.

Thanks. It's been a while since I've posted.

Hi Ryan. I think that you are lucky to have found the eggs at this apparently early stage of development. I don't believe the embryos have developed enough yet to be harmed by some movement or turning of the eggs. I would simply keep them oriented the way they are now and go ahead and incubate them. You can just mark the present top of the egg with a small "X" with a pencil, then set them into your incubator with the "X" on top.

Good luck and congrats on the eggs. I think they are probably about 3 weeks along if the banding on Russian Tortoise eggs appears around the same time as that of Star Tortoise eggs.

Thanks for the info. I'll put x's where they lie now and just see what happens.

I'm just glad to see that the females are laying. I was worried for a while there that they may have been egg bound because I saw a lot of mating, yet no eggs to be found. It's almost like they were trying to trick me by digging in one area and then laying in an area where I've never seen them dig. Oh well, guess I'll just have to be more thorough!

Thanks for the input. We'll wait and see if anything comes out of the eggs.