Odd behaviour

[Denise aka Martini]

I have a leopard tortoise female roughly 7/8yrs old just lately she has been doing this odd movement with her bag legs, its kind of like she is paddling, any ideas plz

[SWsarah]

How offen is she doing it? where is she doing it?
If she is digging with her back legs she could have eggs in here and trying to dig a nest
What substrate are you using and how deep, my rehomer leopard who was 8 has 34 eggs in her.

[EVIEMAY]

As Sarah has said she she could be trying to dig.

I have a 6 year old who had been acting gravid but showed no signs of trying to nest. I took her to the vets and she had 7 eggs inside her.

After 3 weeks she had not laid naturally so she was induced.

Two weeks later she is still doing the digging movement - I dont think she realises she has already passed them poor girl !!!!

I have put my other female in the garden today as she may also have eggs - she has had 2 clutches this year.

It is a worry ....

[EVIEMAY]

Originally Posted by SWsarah

How offen is she doing it? where is she doing it?
If she is digging with her back legs she could have eggs in here and trying to dig a nest
What substrate are you using and how deep, my rehomer leopard who was 8 has 34 eggs in her.

What happened about that Sarah did you have her induced?

I remember when she came to you she had eggs.

Mine have not taken to their nesting site in the enclosure.

[SWsarah]

I induced her myself at home she laid 4 eggs
But i put her in the correct environment with deep soil (old owner kept her in the house)
She dug a nest herself and laid them all, some had sand as a shell as she had no UVB or calcium

[purplepixie]

Always best to get this sort of thing checked out, as it could be eggs, but it also could be a hormonal thing. Just practicing

[Denise aka Martini]

Hi sorry havent been at my computer for awhile, going back to the question about my leopard tortoises odd behaviour, she tends to do it in a few different places not just in her bed, i read somewhere to use soil/vermiculite/sand its quite deep is this right? Would i have to take her to the vets just to see if she does have eggs? She has been doing this odd movement with her back legs for on and off a couple of weeks, have tried to find anything that resembles it on the internet, is there a site i could go on that actually shows a tortoise laying? What happens if she is pregnant, but doesnt lay and how much longer do i leave her before i need to take her to the vets? SOOO sorry for all questions am abit worried as i dont want anything to happen to her just becoz i dont know what im doing. So sending out an SOS for help/advice plz....

[purplepixie]

If it would be her first clutch of eggs, then a visit to the vets is best. As sometimes their hormones get confused. Better to know if she does have eggs or not. Then you can make an informed decision from there.

[EVIEMAY]

I have had had the same problem recently with my Leopard that I rehomed a few months ago. She had showed signs of being gravid then it seemed to stop - I took her for a scan which showed she had eggs in the canal and also a large folicle - my vet suggested leaving her 2 weeks before bringing he back to be induced.

I did leave it 3 weeks and the xray showed 7 eggs which she laid after an injection of oxytocin.

I find with my biggest female she wakes very early and paces and climbs - she is also very moody ( if that makes sense) with the others.

She actually did lay 10 eggs in the garden yesterday but it was very stressful( for both of us )- she took over 7 hours before she finally laid and the first egg seemed to get stuck it took ages for her to pass it.

I agree with purplpixie - I would get her checked out - it wont be cheap but it will give you peace of mind.

[Denise aka Martini]

what sort of substate do you use and how deep should it be, she has her bed in the space under our stairs as she is quite a big leopard tortoise, she has free range of our house, will she lay in there or will it only be outside