Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My cherry head tort laid an egg on tues. I took rads today, she has 3 more. She is still eating well. I also noticed that her eyes were a little runny/bubbly clear tears.
When do I worry, should I intervene now or try to improve the environmental conditions first.
I did add a tray of sphagnum moss in hopes that would be better for her to lay in(yesterday, but no interest).
Today I moved her to a separate area, the whole thing is sphagnum moss I put an area that she can hide in as well. I also was going to try and raise the temp a little in case she is getting an upper resp.
I have calcium injection and oxytocin, just not sure how soon I should resort to medical intervention.
What else should I do and at what point would you intervene?
Thanks.

You need to find a substrate that she'll find suitable for laying. Dirt with some sand and a high moisture content usually works. However, it is not something you can throw together yourself. The dirt I've used in the past for inside enlosures comes from a riverbed that holds water for a few months of the year, but not year round. Also, make sure you have the right depth. I usually double the carapace length and use that as a guide. Some Females lay shallow, others lay deeper depending on the conditions of the substrate. I'm sure you understand this, but if you continue to breed her without the proper laying site, you will lose her to reproductive problems down the road.

X-RAY

I did xray, the eggs look normal, (normal shape). I guess to be more specific, do torts lay the entire clutch at once or can it be normal for them to go a few days between?
I gave her a calcium injection, I am soaking her twice a day I have given her a more appropriate nesting area ( sand/peat moss).
I am planning on giving her another calicium injection tomorrow am and inducing in the pm when I will be home. She is eating well and does not seem in any distress.

The only species " famous " for not droping the entire clutch I know of is M.emys emys When the female is not happy with the laying site or nesting materials she will just drop 1 - 4 eggs a few days apart instead of the entire clutch of 12 - 38 eggs at once

My Red-foot / cherry Head are still too young to drop eggs thus no experiences on them yet

Hope these help
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http://www.malaysiafauna.com/forum/

A sand/peat mixture is not a suitable laying substrate. They don't recognize in its mixed or pure forms. When the conditions are suitable they will lay the entire clutch all at once. When the conditons aren't suitable, they will scatter eggs over a given period of time, or hold them untill they become stuck, or rupture inside the ovaduct/ovaries. Either scenario will eventually lead to the demise of the Female.

"We have found that many terrestrial species will nest in captivity in a substrate comprised of 60% soft (play) sand mixed with 40% loamy compost" This is from Highfield.
Aren't you afraid of introducing bacteria/parasites by using riverbank sand?
What other ideas as far as substrate?

Hi Becky, is this your first batch? I can see all that excitement replays in all of us during the phase of this hobby...can't help you with calcium injection or toxytocin, though, since we had no clues what that will do to the animals.

Call it global warming and Al Gore can jump all over us on this all he wants...but even one of our female which laid eggs like clockworks gave us dinged soft eggs this year...Bill Z called her's uncalcified and suspects there could be an infection somewhere but decided to keep it a secret to himself...so we thought maybe she's reaching that dying age like those of her league (in the ssp program) which happened recently, and since we're not doctors and nurses and know nothing about labour inducing techniques so we decide to let nature take it's course and provide whatever we could in our knowledge (more laying choices including man-made poop-shack with outdoor UVB lamps to compensate outdoor temp and extend day light cycle, also varying humidity levels in substrates...ect)...that was September.

Only until a few days ago; some six weeks later she dug a hole in the old spot and pops all in one go like she used to (no tell-tale-testing sites like many others of her specie that we've seen!) while her mates paces and waits on her side (yelp, we let them do their "normal" activities during all this time!) the clutch are getting bigger and if you count them dinged eggs together, it's about 3 times what a normal clutch would be...but again, her mate he's a hanky-panky-son-of-a-kamickazi

>>My cherry head tort laid an egg on tues. I took rads today, she has 3 more. She is still eating well. I also noticed that her eyes were a little runny/bubbly clear tears. ?When do I worry, should I intervene now or try to improve the environmental conditions first. ?I did add a tray of sphagnum moss in hopes that would be better for her to lay in(yesterday, but no interest). ?Today I moved her to a separate area, the whole thing is sphagnum moss I put an area that she can hide in as well. I also was going to try and raise the temp a little in case she is getting an upper resp. ?I have calcium injection and oxytocin, just not sure how soon I should resort to medical intervention. ?What else should I do and at what point would you intervene? ?Thanks.

What's interesting is that there is mounting evidence that tortoises don't have a dieing age. They screw and reproduce until the day they die. Unlike mammals they produce follicles right up until the end which is not usually caused by 'old age'.

This seems to be another excuse keepers use when the screw up the keeping of their tortoise for some reason or another. This is not really different than the 'failure to thrive' excuse.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Hey Kayt,

Are you purposely trying to bait me, or what exactly is your problem? You asked what could cause the eggs you showed and I told you my opinion. So what does this mean:

".but even one of our female which laid eggs like clockworks gave us dinged soft eggs this year...Bill Z called her's uncalcified and suspects there could be an infection somewhere but decided to keep it a secret to himself..."

My statement has a good deal more more merit than your nonsense posts, and are a lot more helpful to other readers out there.

my redfoot females are all over the place with egg dropping - they usually lay outside in this temperate area before the weather changes
they have laid late in November on a nice day outside - one year on Halloween
they drop eggs inside usually around late April/early May
this year in October one dug a perfect hole in four hours then abandoned it - I found it filled in the next day with no eggs
sometimes I understand they can resorb eggs - vet advises no intervention unless they show obvious signs of distress or straining - but other people still inject oxytocin
they absolutely refuse to lay in the inside area provided for them but will drop the eggs randomly in their permanent inside enclosure
--Good luck--