• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Can't tell if she is gravid

L

lefty_mussolini

New member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
104
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
45
Location
The Black Hills of South Dakota
First of all, sorry I can't post a pic. But I was hoping some more experienced people could help me out. I am pretty sure one of my females is gravid but I am having trouble being able to tell. Here are some of the signs that made me think she is gravid. 1. She is FAT. but she is new and not too much fatter than when I got her. 2. She is digging like crazy. for the last week and a half she is non-stop. it wakes me up in the morning. 3. Her apetite is huge right now. 4. When I bought her from the shop, I was told she might already be gravid. she had been seen mating. 4. I have not seen her mate with my male, but I am gone a lot of the day and I have seen much courting. (which seems to have dropped off lately.) The main reasons I have doubt are 1. I can not feel the eggs when I hold her. 2. I have not seen any mating myself. 3. It seems like it has been awhile and she should have layed her eggs by now (but it might not have been that long and I might just be impatient.) 4. Anytime I expect something big like this I end up dissapointed (esp. when I tell people.) In any case I have made all the preparations for the awaited arrivals and if anybody could throw in their 2 cents it would be helpful. Thanx.
 
You can try this...

Fill your sink with warm water and hold her in the water. I have found that it is easier to feel eggs in a female if she is under water. I do have really large females that it is extremely difficult to feel eggs in them at all. Most of the time You can't feel the eggs until the week before they lay. As a side note. If she is gravid and needs to lay she shouldn't be housed with a male. This is just extra stress on her. They will also retain their eggs if a suitable laying environment is not presented to them. I would take a tub with potting soil/playsand mix and moisten it down with warm water. Keep it under a warm light. I cover 3/4 of the tub with a dark lid. This creates a tunnel environment for them to lay in. She should lay in the tub if she is ready and bury the eggs when she is done.

Mike
 
Thank you very much. I do have an egg laying box in with her but I haven't seperated her from the male. How deep should the water be? also, I felt her today and might have felt somethin'. not too sure. she didn't want be felt up this morning so I tried not to hold her too long. one more thing. How long is it from copulation to egg laying?
 
The water should just be deep enough to get her belly under it and it usually takes about 30 days from mating to laying.
 
Try this next

Take the laying tub out of the cage until she starts digging like crazy. Usually the eggs are easily noticeable by just visually looking at her belly. One she starts digging and trying to dig under items in her cage the place the tub back into her cage. I lay an oversized lid on top of the cage leaving a small opening just big enough for her to climb into. I start a hole just inside the lid and when I put it in her cage I set her head first into the opening. They will usually check it out for a couple minutes and start digging to the back side of the tub. Try and use one at least 18" long because they like to tunnel. Make sure neither the tub nor the lid is clear as they like it dark like inside a tunnel. Mine ALWAYS dig to the opposite side of the tub and lay there then bury everything. If you follow this procedure they will usually lay within 24 hours of putting them in the tub. Sometimes it takes a few days. Make sure the dirt/sand mix is warm and moist enough to clump. Get your incubator ready now so you have time to work out any problems with temps. You need to check on her as frequently as possible when she starts digging actively in the tub. The soil mix will sometimes zap the moisture out of an egg if it is too dry and if it is to wet that's not good either. Once she lays set the eggs in their container and after about 2 days a use a sharpie and dot the tops of the eggs. This tells me how the egg was positioned and if they rotate when I move the container I can put them right side up again. If you bury them about half way they shouldn't move but it always amazes me that they somehow still get rotated. Mark the calendar and begin a long and torturous 2-2 1/2 month wait. Good luck!
 
Back
Top