Help My Tortoise Laid An Egg

Everything you will need to successfully incubate Tortoise eggs.

I have bred Hermanns and Spur Thigh tortoise eggs using this set up.

Hermanns Tortoise laying a clutch of eggs.

When a tortoise lays an egg, she will dig a hole and bury it.  If she surface lays, in my experience it is unlikely to be fertile.  My Herman’s tortoises normally lay 3-5 eggs.  If your incubator isn’t set up, I would advise leaving the eggs in the ground for up to three days whilst you set up and if need be obtain an incubator.  I use a Hova-bator incubator, but I have friends that use the Reptivator just as successfully and also the White Python.  However you incubate you must make sure your eggs are still, THEY MUST NOT BE TURNED.  I simply place mine on vermiculite in take away tubs, but a lot of people prefer to use something like a breeding box. 

I set my temperature at 31.5 - 32.5 degrees Celsius. I use three simple, cheap thermometres and take the average. A cheeky fact is the higher the temp, the more likely your tortoises will be female.  Over 32.5C and your heading for problems though. A little tip, the probe you put in the incubator is the “out” reading on the thermometre.

 I set Humidity to about 70 - 80% and I use a dial hygrometer, they are so much more accurate than the digital reading you sometimes get on a cheap thermometre.

About four days after incubation starts you may be able to candle the eggs with a really small torch.

If a shadow is covering the top, it is ‘chalking up’ which is a sign of fertility

.

               After about a week, you may be able to candle them and see the ring of life forming.