Tort aged 54 has problems laying eggs mostly broken and has laid shelless eggs/s in her warm bath she still will not fully eat and is agitated and rocks her shell and digs in with front paws.Has done this for the past three years,1 year she laid 2 perfect eggs whilst in the vets and then a lot of broken ones (we took her to the to South Devon Referal service).Last year same again only all broken the vet gave a jabs to induce her and after she laid for soreness in her bottom and she was ok.This year she laid a clutch in the garden ,as she was still agitated took her to the vet they Xrayed her , no sign of any more,brought her home started to eat a bit,gave her a warm bath and I think she laid at least one shelless egg in the water. She is now restless again though not as bad but still digs in and rocks her rear every now and then and has stopped eating.We have another tort a 75 year old Spur .My wife and I are both worried about our Shelia any advice would be helpfull.We have had Sheila for over 4 years and Ben the spur has ben in our family for nearly all his 75 years

Hi there, are these two being kept together?

Do you supplement their food with calcium and vitamins?

With answers to these questions it will be easier to advise on a way forward. In the meantime she needs warmth, peace, baths, favourite (healthy) foods and tlc!

Regards, David nr York.

Thanks for the reply.

Both tortoises are allowed free run of the garden during the day(it is escape proof and presents no tortoise hazards,it has trees and shrubs to provide shade etc.).They are not seperated only when we bring them in and put them in their boxes over night. As far as we knew when we got sheila from some friends whose parents had had sheila from an early age she!! was a boy.We did not find out he! wasn`t untill the referal vet tol us she had eggs! We give vitamin supplement and Zolcal-D we got from our vet on occasions (very difficult to get her to take something she`s not keen on! Also when we realised she was a girl Ben did spring to mind but HE`S 75!!!

we take good care of them in fact Ben really likes to be hand fed!!

Hi there. It is never recommended to mix species for fear of cross-infection. I do however, know several keepers who have done so for years with no ill effects. I personally would not. In a large garden the chances of trouble are, I assume, reduced.

Do these two mate at all? Male spur-thighed are very much more "violent" than Hermann's, apparently.Was she previously kept alone? Does she now have access to a really warm area such as a greenhouse or cloched area? This would stimulate egg laying, and with sufficient body warmth might help her to lay naturally. After that, I am stumped! I hope someone else will pick up this issue, and give more specific advice we can all learn from. Incidentally, what did the vet say about mixing tortoise types?

Regards, David nr York

Hi Again.She was previously a garden tortoise and lived alone,have never seen them mate they seem to go their own seperate ways.

 Our local vet did not say anything about keeping diffrent species together.

Ben the spur male was introduced to a much larger spur female some years ago and my wife said he went frantic trying to mount her,barging her etc.He has never displayed this with Sheila he shows concern if she is not there (when she spent the night in the vets last time) but they seem to be indiffrent to each other most of the time.

They have a wooden shelter in a sunny spot with a soft sand earth floor which they seem to migrate to on hot sunny days and in the evenings when it cools down.We also have a basking lamp which we use indoors on cold wet days!

I have spoken to our local vets today and he has contacted the referal vets in Newton Abbot who we visited before and they wish us to take her in on wendnesday, so fingers crossed that we get some answers.

I will post any reasons/answers I get from from vet down there (he is a reptile only expert) on this forum in the hope of helping other owners .

Regards

Doug

Further to my last post we took sheila to the referal vet at Newton Abbot.She was there for some hours and had a full set of tests,x-ray,ultra sound,bloods and a rear end scope! No sign of eggs were found and she was not sore inside like last year, he will phone me this week as soon as he has the results of the bloods .He thought she might have a slight infection so she is on an antibiotic (great fun trying to get her to take it!!) So no real answer yet,but she is making progress and is not so frantic and has started to eat a bit all good signs.

Doug.

Some more information,the Vet phoned me yesterday with the blood results,no sign of any problem with her kidneys etc ,she is not dehydrated (she has had lots of warm baths and hates them!),slight drop in white blood cell count all other blood counts seem normal,potassium is a bit on the high side but within reason,so we need to keep her on antibiotics for the nex 4 weeks plus she has an anti inflamatory to take as well.So hopefully she is on the mend at present she is in the garden basking in the sun.

Doug

Hi Doug, that's good news.

Thanks for keeping us updated...you are the exception. Let's just hope now that torty is well on the way to full recovery! All we need now is some decent weather so our torts can stock up good reserves for next hibernation.

Regards, David nr York.

Further news on Sheila

 She has been on antibiotics for nearly four weeks now and have now got used to getting her to take them daily!!!.but she is now back to her normal self eating every weed she can find plus other titbits etc no longer scratch and sniffing,charging about the garden and cimbing over stuff (which is normal for her) . Coming up to you whenever you go in the garden to see if you have something good to eat and being a right nusiance (I am glad to say)

Thanks for update...that is really good news!!

Regards, David nr York.

Thanks for update...that is really good news!!

Regards, David nr York.