Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a sulcata laying soft shell eggs. Any suggestions?
Thanks

She may need more calcium in her diet to help her calcify the shells of her eggs. You can try giving her cuttlebones, chicken egg shells (from hard boiled eggs to prevent the possibility of spreading Salmonella), and sprinkling her favorite foods with Rep-Cal. One friend of mine used to cook chickens in a pressure cooker and then bone them, save the chicken meat for himself and feed the cooked bones to his Radiated, Star, and Leopard Tortoises. I witnessed this firsthand, and the tortoises actually seemed to enjoy gnawing on the bones for a number of days after they were put in the tortoise enclosures. Aside from providing calcium for the animals, this practice can also help to prevent overgrown beaks.

This will not help you right now, but might be useful to know for future reference: when I was raising Star Tortoises (all 3 types), I used to take the shells of the hatched Star Tortoise eggs and feed them to the female who had laid them. They almost always ate them. Radiated Tortoises don't seem as interested in eating the shells of their hatched eggs, but it doesn't hurt to offer them just in case. It is an easy way to recycle organic calcium.

Thanks for responding. I add calicium to my babies food but this is a large adult living outside and has been for year with other female sulcata and leopards, none of which have the same problem. I will try your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks again

Yes, I had assumed this was an adult female since she was laying eggs; however a couple of questions do come to mind. First, has this female laid normal eggs for you in the past or were these soft eggs her first clutch? If not, how many soft clutches has she laid vs. how many normal clutches? Is she digging normal nests or laying the eggs on top of the ground?

In addition to possible dietary calcium deficiency there are other possibilities for the problem, such as a urinary tract infection affecting the calcification of the eggs or some problem affecting her absorption of the calcium in her diet if it is already sufficient as one would expect if the other females are producing normal clutches for you.

I have seen a couple of my female Radiated Tortoises lay eggs with virtually no shells at all from time to time, then a few months later, they have laid perfectly normally shelled eggs which have hatched. This has occurred in females that have laid a lot of eggs prior to producing the ones with extremely thin shells. I generally attributed it to their bodies just needing a rest and taking a break from shell production because everything else was fine with them and all other animals were unaffected at the times when this occurred.

If I remember right, she laid 4 clutches last year and it is getting worse with each clutch.

If that is the case, I suspect that she may have a problem other than, or contributing to, the inability to calcify the egg shells. It might be the best idea to take her to a vet and have her checked for an infection. A complete blood count might be very informative in that regard and help you solve the problem before it gets out of hand.

Thanks