Spider Tortoise Egg Laying?

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Posted by Nigel Carter on June 06, 2000 at 16:53:02:

Hello All,

I just thought I`d post a quick update on my Spider Tortoises (probably A.a.brygooi). They are doing very well and I have photos of them mating out in our backyard, where they spend the weekends. Of course they are still picky eaters, but getting slightly better these days. I recently changed their indoor enclosure and substrate to include an area with soft and easy to dig substrate - I used a 10/9/1 mix of sand, peat moss and calcium carbonate "repti-sand". The depth of this soft substrate is around 6-8". Anyway, yesterday I walked into the room with their enclosure and couldn`t find the female anywhere. Man, talk about panic!!! After 20 mins of frantic searches I thought a bit more logically and carefully probed around in the soft substrate area. Lo and behold, there she was right at the bottom of the enclosure, completely covered. She is still there as of today and has not really moved as far as I can tell. She has also been eating a lot recently, something I attributed to acclimatisation. So now I wonder what`s so interesting under all that dirt? Obviously I`m thinking "egg-laying maybe", but does anyone have any comments or even experience with egg-laying in any of the Spider Toroises?

Nigel

P.S. I have some photos I can share, but I have no place to post them on the web, so I can`t post them here at the moment.

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Re: Spider Tortoise Egg Laying? Jerry Fife 06/06/00 (0)
Re: Spider Tortoise Egg Laying? Matt J. 06/06/00 (0)

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: Hello All, : I just thought I`d post a quick update on my Spider Tortoises (probably A.a.brygooi). They are doing very well and I have photos of them mating out in our backyard, where they spend the weekends. Of course they are still picky eaters, but getting slightly better these days. I recently changed their indoor enclosure and substrate to include an area with soft and easy to dig substrate - I used a 10/9/1 mix of sand, peat moss and calcium carbonate "repti-sand". The depth of this soft substrate is around 6-8". Anyway, yesterday I walked into the room with their enclosure and couldn`t find the female anywhere. Man, talk about panic!!! After 20 mins of frantic searches I thought a bit more logically and carefully probed around in the soft substrate area. Lo and behold, there she was right at the bottom of the enclosure, completely covered. She is still there as of today and has not really moved as far as I can tell. She has also been eating a lot recently, something I attributed to acclimatisation. So now I wonder what`s so interesting under all that dirt? Obviously I`m thinking "egg-laying maybe", but does anyone have any comments or even experience with egg-laying in any of the Spider Toroises? : : Nigel : P.S. I have some photos I can share, but I have no place to post them on the web, so I can`t post them here at the moment.

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