Can anyone tell me why a female tortoise would lay an egg with no shell, just the yoke. Las few days she has eaten loads od calcium, yesterday morning she dug one hole then left it. Today she was digging again, then stopped and harassed one of the other females who is considerably larger and it was while watching her trying to push her out the way when I noticed the yoke coming out?

Is this normal? Why would she lay with no shell?

Any help here would be much appreciated.

Last night decided to put some more fresh topsoil in there indoor table, this morning I weighed my female and she had lost 110gr in weight. I took a while to find the eggs all six of them they have been carefully marked and cleaned and are now in the incubator at 31-32c with the humidity fluctuating between 68 and 78% is this okay?

That sounds fine - re the one with no shell, is she a young tortoise? Does she have free access to limestone flour or similar. Eggs can have no shells or very thin shells if the calcium level is low. check too for any bits of broken shell. If the unshelled egg broke before laying (which they can if the shell is too thin) then any retained egg, higher than the cloaca can cause peritonitis, which can be fatal. If you are happy that it was just an egg with no shell, shse should be fine. Keep an eye out for any restless behaviour or signs of not eating just in case.

Sue

www.tortsmad.com

She is 12yrs old, I think she was just trying to establish some dominance witht he other THB when she pushed the egg out with no shell.

She has access to plenty of calcium, before she was gravid she was constantly eating cuttle fish bone. The six eggs that she laid the next day are very well and all weigh 17grs. I also have stopped her wind down for just now and she is eating very well. Thanks for the advice and the reply

Yes, I would not hibernate her just yet. Wind her down again around Christmas if you think she is back to normal.

Good luck

Sue

www.tortsmad.com