Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I adopted an abandoned female to give company to my male, my male lost his female last year. The second week I got the female, she began laying eggs. She started nesting at the bottom of the cage, in fact that is what bonded the male/female together. The male didnt want anything to do with her before she began laying eggs, and now they're in love. BUT...no mating. I put in a nesting box, and she's layed a clutch of 9 eggs. They take turns laying on the clutch, most of the time together...for the last three weeks. But, I candled the eggs and there are no babies...like I knew there wouldnt be.

So I have no idea what to do. If I take the eggs away, I'm not sure if they will mate...or if it will just send her into laying another infertile clutch.

My goal is for them to mate, & reproduce.

History. My male used to mate with the prior female he lost, they nested for two years without any babies. However, they never laid on the eggs like this couple is doing. The current female & male are taking precious care of these eggs.

The male is 4 years old, the female about 3 yrs.

Should I take away the eggs? I would feel badly doing that, but there are no babies. Thank you!

These are them together
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o157/maiaconnortyler/l_0ff5d1ed532f427e828a50b1257d006d.jpg

My suggestion (I'm not a breeder so it is opinion only) would be to let them go ahead and sit on this batch of eggs. After laying that many eggs she is going to be low on nutrients and needs time to build them back up before laying another batch. If you take them away from her she will lay more eggs and there is no way to know whether they would be fertile or not but either way it would be extremely unhealthy for her and actually for the "possible" babies as well. Her calcium would be low possibly making fertile or infertile egg shells thin and brittle so even if they did mate the eggs would more than likely not be good for full term hatching.

After they have grown bored of these eggs then take them away. While they are sitting on the eggs even though they are infertile give them a very good healthy diet with fresh foods and even calcium/mineral dust sprinkled on their food. This will help her stay/get healthy so that if they decide to mate and lay more after leaving these eggs there is a much better chance of healthy babies and healthy mama.