Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a friend that owns a pet store. He had a pair of CA wood turtles and the female laid eggs in his store. We took them out and I have kept them in an incubator at 86 for over a month now. I know they have about a 2 month incubation period but I am wondering if they are viable. I breed bearded dragons and the eggs actually grow do turtle eggs do this too? They are showing no signs of rotting or molding but they aren't changing at all. I've tried candling them and they appears to be a yolk in the egg. If these were bad after a month wouldn't it be obvious by now? Bad bearded dragon eggs will shrink up and discolor while these have not done that at all. The shells are are very firm and have looked good from the beginning I'm just trying to get a feel for turtle egg "behavior" during the incubation period.
Thanks
Mike
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Signature file edited; [phw 8/31/04]

Don't know anything about lizards.

Expect F2 spotted turtle hatchlings '05 season.. (grandbabies)!

At the risk of sounding rude.. I've made all the mistakes.. there are 3 rules to incubating turtle eggs:

1) leave them alone.. 2) leave them alone.. 3) guess?

Everyday open the incubator and "fan-out" the 'stale' air. Put the largest container of hot water that will fit in the incubator and let condensation form on the windows. Get no less than 2 thermometers to ensure the temps stay between 87-88 F. You will watch them become "bright-white" as they grow about 25%. And remember the 3 rules.

See 1 of 3 similar new SC females for my breeding group.. should make pretty babies.. Terry

I haven't seen a huge number of turtle eggs, but in my limited experience with a handful of species:

They don't expand or grow over time, for the most part. Right before hatching they appear to grow, but that's just for one or two days before hatching.

There is a fourth rule to turtle eggs: Don't throw them out until they expode, implode damn near completely, or start to smell.

Often non-fertile eggs will not have an odor, and may look similar to fertile eggs, although they often fail to "chalk up". But revist rule # 4 just to be safe. Even non-viable turtle eggs kept for a couple of months often won't have an odor.

Katrina