My Sulcata female laying eggs

[Lancecham]

I thought you guys may enjoy this. My 65 to 70 pound female sulcata has been wanting to lay eggs for close to two weeks now. We have had a lot of rain lately and on top of that, the ground has been pretty muddy. We haven't had any rain for a few days, so things have had a chance to dry up slightly. So she picked a good day yesterday to lay her eggs(and good thing she did as it is raining again today.)
Enjoy the pics.

Lance

 

[Amanda1801]

wow she looks good! we have one, but shes not that big...yet! shes about 3-3.5 inches long in plastron length lol

 

[Lancecham]

Give her time, she will eventually get as big as my girl.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

My girl about that size has been laying all summer! This was her first time and we saw her lay at least 8-10 times! Here we don't have nice weather now though so she stopped a month or two ago. It looked like an artillery field in my yard with all the holes she was digging! I thought it was weird that the eggshells were so hard compared to smaller turtle species eggs. Her sister is a little smaller and hasn't started laying yet.

 

[Amanda1801]

My girl about that size has been laying all summer! This was her first time and we saw her lay at least 8-10 times! Here we don't have nice weather now though so she stopped a month or two ago. It looked like an artillery field in my yard with all the holes she was digging! I thought it was weird that the eggshells were so hard compared to smaller turtle species eggs. Her sister is a little smaller and hasn't started laying yet.

maybe because she's a tortoise?

 

[hondataeg6]

Thats awesome, Did you remove the eggs from the egg chamber before you took the pictures or did youre tortoise just lay them there??

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

maybe because she's a tortoise?

I'm aware of the difference...was just commenting on an observation to contribute to conversation.

 

[Lancecham]

Thats awesome, Did you remove the eggs from the egg chamber before you took the pictures or did youre tortoise just lay them there??

She laid the eggs in the egg chamber and I took them out before she started to cover them up.

 

[Lancecham]

My girl about that size has been laying all summer! This was her first time and we saw her lay at least 8-10 times! Here we don't have nice weather now though so she stopped a month or two ago. It looked like an artillery field in my yard with all the holes she was digging! I thought it was weird that the eggshells were so hard compared to smaller turtle species eggs. Her sister is a little smaller and hasn't started laying yet.

Were those 8 to 10 clutches all in one season? If so, that is a lot of clutches.
I know what you mean by the artllery shells. My girl will often dig test holes as well.

 

[mardithepanther]

My water turtles are fanning the crap out of each other. Hopefully Ill find eggs in the backyard soon

 

[hondataeg6]

Lance, how would you describe the males grunting vocalizations during the breeding??? are they loud?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Were those 8 to 10 clutches all in one season? If so, that is a lot of clutches.
I know what you mean by the artllery shells. My girl will often dig test holes as well.

Yeah that was one season! I was surprised there were that many too. They got smaller toward the end of the summer. Our yard has a pretty thin topsoil layer and lots of rocks deeper so I'm wondering if she maybe couldn't make a hole as a deep as she wanted so she just thinned the clutch out into multiple places because sometimes they were only a week apart. Since they were so close together I'm pretty sure that's what was happening. Either way I'm glad I don't have a male, I'd be swimming in hatchlings!

 

[Lancecham]

Lance, how would you describe the males grunting vocalizations during the breeding??? are they loud?

I have had 2 male sulcatas and both grunt during breeding. I can be inside the house with the windows closed and can still here him. I am waiting for the day for one of my neighbors to ask me what in the heck is going on in your backyard.

 

[kaylie]

Lance, how would you describe the males grunting vocalizations during the breeding??? are they loud?

Here ya go lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R5QueuvKQ4

My sulcata is almost 4 months old, still teeny. Cant wait to have him/her in my backyard.

 

[hondataeg6]

Here ya go lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R5QueuvKQ4

My sulcata is almost 4 months old, still teeny. Cant wait to have him/her in my backyard.

Seen that video, and the one with a smaller tortoise having fun with a croc shoe.

They are awesome wish i could get one.

 

[Vegas Chad]

Who's up for a game of Ping Pong?!?!?!?

 

[pssh]

I love how they make weird noises. Is it fun having baby tortoises?

My male is afraid of me. He's an MBD survivor. He used to live in a 30 gallon despite the fact that he was 12" across his carapace.

 

[Lancecham]

I love how they make weird noises. Is it fun having baby tortoises?

My male is afraid of me. He's an MBD survivor. He used to live in a 30 gallon despite the fact that he was 12" across his carapace.

The babies are just so cute and have individual personalities.
They are so enjoyable to have and watching them grow so quickly is just as fascinating.

 

[pssh]

If I had more room, I'd get a baby. Unfortunately, I only have enough room for my one. And even then, it's kind of pushing it as I cheated a little. I figured he wouldn't mind too much since he has a little trouble getting around sometimes. plus he's still small.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

My girls have learned that if they come up to the back door and starting ramming it that usually makes us feed them to get them to stop. And if the door is already open they just come right into the house and cruise around. It's cute now but they're going to tear the house down one day!