We have had a female tortoise, Sally, for 60 years and rehomed another female, Hilda, a couple of years ago which had been with its previous owners for 35 years. After initial bullying from Sally, they now get along well and often choose to sunbathe next to each other - they can roam freely in the enclosed garden. We have noticed Sally mounting Hilda occasionally. Today Hilda laid what looked to be an egg without a shell in a border in the garden and has since laid another one, still without shell, inside her hutch. Is this anything to be concerned about? By the way, we know Sally is female because she has laid  unfertilised eggs in the past

Hello, 

Thank you Tom. They have always refused anything that we think would be a useful supplement eg. tortoise pellets, etc. and eat copious amounts of lettuce, cucumber and cherries in addition to anything they fancy in the garden!  We've seen Sally eating snail shells.  Will keep an eye out for any signs of illness.

You can get calcium powder to sprinkle on their lettuce. Other than that don't feed lettuce, so that they eat more of what is good for them in your garden.

Hi Tom

We've bought a weed growing kit specifically for tortoises and a tortoise nutritional block. Have sown the seeds for the weeds but, so far, they're not showing any interest in the block - will wait and see. Thanks for the tip about the calcium powder and the cuttlefish bone.

We really appreciate your advice.