# BOX TURTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Wish me, and the eggs. luck. I found three eggs in my box turtle pen today! Laying on top of the soil! If I had found only one egg, I would have suspected a crow had dropped it's stolen goods. I am going to set up a small terrarium and let them hatch, hopefully. In all the years that I have had box turtles, off and on since I was a kid, I have never had any lay eggs.


----------



## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

Got pictures of your box turtle? My mom and her sisters and brother grew up with box turtles and she thought they were banned as pets? 
Craig


----------



## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

You have to use great care with tortoise eggs, and I assume box turtlles may be similar.

The eggs must remain in the position (orientation) in which they were found or the mortality rate goes way up due to the position of the air sack and all. If you've already moved them, I guess I would leave them in their current position to avoid more potential damage unless you are sure of the position they were in previously.


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

I have heard that ever since I was a kid. We used to go into the woods and look for them. People have had them as pets for a long time. There are web sites devoted to turtle care. So I take it with a grain of salt. Anyway here is one of my Gals. This is Footloose. So named because one of her hind legs never comes out of the shell. Must have been an injury or birth defect. Her girlfriends are Fancy Free and the newest member of the trio is Uh-Oh, my grandsons favorite word after Nona (grandmom). All three turtles were rescused from becoming road pizza.


----------



## Joe Bartolini (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

Dan 
Hello. Nice to discover another BT keeper. First started out in October 1994. Now have 5 adults and close to 2 dozen surviving hatchling born since 2003. Sorry to relate that most often eggs deposited atop the soil usuall turn out to be sterial. Anyway it normally takes BT eggs about 8 weeks to hatch. Mother BT will roam pen looking fgor that perfect spot and may dig several nesting holes before depositins here eggs. Wish you good luck and feel free to contact me to exchange BT talk. Some pictures of my turle pen and herd can be found on my Flikr site which is linked to from my profile page. Or should be linked. 

Joe Bartolini 
In the former pine barrens , now suburban wastelands, of SC


----------



## Truthman (Dec 13, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

You must have a male turtle around somewhere. You didn't mention you owned one though. My wife says most male box turtles have red eyes. But you can mostly tell my the tail and the position of the vent.


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

Well I'll be! Congratulations, daddy!


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

We believe that UH-OH, the last turtle to join our little clan, was pregnant when she arrived only a few weeks ago.


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

Well, three more eggs have been found in the days since my last post on this subject. The last one, today, just under the surface of some loose earth and pine debris. We have altered our theory of who the father might be. We now suspect that UH-OH must be the man about town. We believe this as Footloose and Fancy Free have been very sluggish, and not too eager to eat. We are 99% certain that Footloose is a female. That information was provided by the veternarian we took her to a few years ago. And since Fancy Free has never made a move on her, to our knowledge, she is most likely a female also. Add to that the fact that not long after UH-OH shows up, eggs begin to appear.


----------



## Joe Bartolini (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

Congratulations. The eggs deposited in the soil and pine litter are probably fertile and in another 8 weeks there should be some hatchlings wandering about. Look out for them. If hungry an adult may eat a hatchling. 

Joe


----------



## LocoLover (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: BOX TUTLE LAYS AN EGG........THREE TO BE PRECISE*

"But you can mostly tell my the tail and the position of the vent." This is one way and the way most reptiles are sexed, however with turtles and tortises, most can be sexed by the shape of the plastern (bottom shell), males have a concave shell which helps them to stay in place when they mount a female. 

In addition, as has been pointed out, all reptile eggs should remain oriented as the mother lays them. Chickens tend their eggs and they roll them or they won't hatch, however reptiles don't tend and roll them, so God made them to hatch after remaining in the same position they are laid in. 

Hope the information about the plastern helps. 

Bill


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

I have moved all of the eggs into the nursery, being careful that they were placed in exactly the same orientation as I had found them. I managed to scoop the surrounding soil up with the egg whenever I found it buried. Which wasn't too deep.


----------



## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Did all the turtles survive your flooding?? From your other post it looks pretty wet!!


----------



## Greg Stevens (Jan 3, 2008)

Dan,

When I was a young lad, I worked in a Pet Store which had every kind of critter you can imagine. I was told by the owner that the easiest way to tell the sexes apart was to look at the bottom of the shell. Males have a depression near the vent while females shells are straight across. I don't know how true this is, but it might help you ID your three. Good luck with the eggs.


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

The turtle pen came through without any damage. It is located on a slight rise, in the railway garden.


----------



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Some other members have said the same thing. Do you believe that I haven't had the chance to pick UH-OH up to check his plastron? I should be getting a break tomorrow from work and flood cleanup, so I'll try to remember to look at him.


----------



## leonpete (Jan 4, 2008)

When I was vacationing at Okaboji the week after the 4th of July I went to a pond to do some fishing. The next day I returned to the same spot to do some fishing and a turtle had dug a hole and layed about 10 eggs in the hole. I hope they make it. Good luck with your eggs.


----------

