Tortoise how many eggs

The male then erects his penis known as a hemi-penis. This pushes through his ventral opening of the cloaca and enters hers. One single mating results in up to 30 eggs being fertilised, although these will not be laid together in one clutch. Tortoise gestation is in fact quite remarkable with regards to the time scales involved, because the female can vary the length of the gestation period from fertilisation to laying depending on the environmental and nesting conditions.

It is believed that tortoises can lay fertile eggs up to four years after mating, although fertility reduces significantly after each season. After fertilisation the tiny eggs are segregated into clutches of two to twelve, depending on the species, then one clutch at a time are allowed to grow to full size. The egg shells are a similar density and appearance to a chicken egg, only smaller and more spherical.

Once the pregnant female finds a suitable nesting area, sufficient to be able to incubate the eggs, she will proceed to lay the clutch. Some weeks afterwards another stored clutch of fertile eggs will be allowed to grow to fill size, be shelled and eventually laid. The procedure continues until all of the eggs have been expelled. This can take a couple of years — all from one single mating. Healthy tortoises usually lay two clutches per season, but in captive situations this is often unlikely, unless adequate artificially heated nesting areas are supplied.

Furthermore, each year that an egg is retained, it receives an extra layer of calcium. This causes severe complications due to the eggs becoming larger, lumpy and over calcified, making any laying attempts difficult egg binding.

This unfortunate situation can be avoided by provisions being made for captive nesting. Tortoises are very particular when it comes to choosing a suitable nest site, for incubation purposes they need to seek out a place which receives all day sunshine and has very well drained earth.

South facing hillsides are often favourite spots for nest sites. South facing sites offer extended sunlight hours, providing the essential warmth needed to attain a virtually contact day to night temperature several inches under the ground.

When nest finding, tortoises actually nudge along the ground with their noses to check the temperature and soil type. The moisture content and soil pliability has to be correct or the nest would collapse, or be too firm to fully excavate.

Once the female is happy with a chosen site she will begin the long process of digging. She will dig downwards and outwards using long circular movements of her rear legs until a large bell shaped hole is achieved. The depth required is approximately three quarters of the length of her shell. She will then start the lay her eggs, one by one.

This also has the added effect of coating the sticky eggs with soil, lessening the breakage possibilities even further. After the clutch has been laid, she covers the eggs with soil, refills the nest and flattens it with her plastron. This is done to such a high standard that it becomes virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the surrounding landscape.

The whole nesting procedure can take up to four hours to achieve! For example, an American Redfoot tortoise would never in its life encounter a Turkish Ibera. They originate from completely different parts of the world and consequently are biologically alien to each other, each one carrying pathogens harmful to the other.

Incompatible mating rarely, if ever, produce fertile eggs. They do however cause unlimited health risks, any eggs which happen to develop inside the female are very likely to be malformed, usually too large or misshapen to be safely express, this in turn can lead to peritonitis and death. Females which show any sign of distress when trying to lay or happen to lose movement in their rear legs, are demonstrating the tell-tale signs of being egg bound.

In addition to pregnancy related problems, injuries are also often inflicted on the female during courtship, between incompatible species. The risk of disease transmission and viral infections are immense.

As a result, fatal viral infections are spread, often throughout a whole colony. It has been known to take up to 10 years for a deadly viral infection to display its symptoms. It is important to choose your breeding stock very carefully. Pairs should be of the same species, and in the case of the Spur-Thighed group, pairs need to be the same sub species too. Each tortoise should be separately quarantined for at least one year before being put together to check for any health problems.

This does not eliminate risks entirely, but will help to significantly reduce them. Another important requirement is to only select younger tortoises for breeding purposes, as they tend to be more fertile.

Suitable for all sea turtles lovers and those who want to learn more about these fascinating creatures. Learn More. Deep dive into sea turtle science and conservation. Suitable for budding conservationists and those with an interest in the science surrounding turtles, their biology and conservation. We are updating our website so some pages might not display properly. Two clutches may be laid several weeks apart. The incubation period is about 90 to days, depending upon the temperature in the nest.

The nest is often inside the burrow. Nesting takes several hours. The number of eggs tends to be greater the larger the female. A typical clutch from a wild female is eggs, but pet tortoises tend to grow larger and may lay 12 or more. Usual is Eggs are hard-shelled, slightly oblong, dull white, and almost the size of ping-pong balls.

This is a sign of severe calcium deficiency and it means that you need to add calcium supplements to her diet! Related article: Why do tortoises eat rocks and stones? Assuming that her eggs are fertilized then you can expect the new arrivals to appear between 8 and 11 weeks after they were laid.

The speed of a tortoise hatching is directly proportional to the temperature in which they incubate and if you ensure the temperature stays at between 86 degrees Fahrenheit and 89 degrees Fahrenheit, they should be in the optimal state to hatch.

Long times favor females, and short times favor males. This seems unlikely to us given that gender ought to be determined at the moment of fertilization, but it makes for a good story. Unlike human beings, tortoises will continue to produce eggs throughout their lives.

This is something that appears to be true for the majority of reptiles.