Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! I got a couple of questions about a female who has breed with several diffrent males. She went through all the proper stages of follicle building and she swelled up like another female (who layed 4 eggs), and now she is laying on the warm side for the last few days. She is laying in a perfect circle with her tail in the center and has cleared all her aspen chips in the center. She shed about 33 days ago, which I thought was her pre-lay shed, but when I looked at her today her eyes are blue like she is going to shed again. So my question is... Is there any possibility she could be having problems laying her eggs? Could she be shedding two pre-lay sheds? Or do some females think or act like they are gravid when in reality they are not? I need some answers to help me understand her better. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks alot and good luck to all those with eggs in the incubator. Bob

She is probably going into her pre-lay shed now. Sometimes they can appear to be ovulating when they are swelling due to normal follicle development. Her previous shed was probably just a normal one. My guess is you'll be waiting until mid-August for this clutch! I'll be waiting until then for a few clutches as well... Good luck!
Paul

I'm guessing that Paul is right. However, if she has cleared away all of the bedding and is wrapped into a tight coil I would double check on her.

Sometimes, the female will coil around the eggs so tight that you can't see that she is laying on them. This actually happened to me this year. I was expecting a female to lay an actually noticed her displaying all of the behaviors you are describing, but when I lifted her up I didn't see any eggs.

The next day she hadn't budged but I did notice a little white between her coils. Sure enough, she was wrapped around six huge eggs, but was so tightly coiled around them I would never have noticed if I didn't look closer.

They coil like that when they lay the eggs... Is her tail in the middle?

Yes, to answer your question her tail is in the center. But she is laying loosely in a circle, not a tight coil so I can see there are no eggs yet. Her eyes are blue and she is now in shed. Her temperment is just like a gravid female. I've heard of females taking up to 45 days to lay their eggs and she is at day 36, so is it possible that she could be shedding twice in her cycle? Thanks to everyone for helping out during this difficult time. Bob