General Care Discussion :: X-Ray of Mama w/ Eggs

[penelope]

Oh my!
She covered the area where she laid eggs and walked away.
So, we put her in her tank and she immediately laid three more....
say what????
Then we feed her salmon, and in true Penelope fashion, she laid three more.
That is 18 eggs all together...at last check she had 12.
The second one that she laid in her tank (I'll call this the "tank batch"), a piece of the shell broke as it came out, but 4 more came out afterwards, so not concerned about parts being stuck in her.
They were of various shapes and sizes. Some deformed. Some under-calcified, some partly calcified, and oddly two were good.
Wonder if chomping on the cuttle bone as those last unexpected ones developed was a helper (???)
Still have to dig up the ones she laid in the yard.
I am just still amazed that she would go through the work of digging (2 hours), lay her eggs (15 minutes or less) and cover the spot (another hour), walk away and then drop 6 in the tank.

I love her.
I'll post a little photo montage a tiny bit later. Have to regroup and snag them off the various cameras.

[penelope]

Well here are some photos = not too exciting other than to see the amazement of how well they hide their eggs and the effects of calcium in the diet.
Tomorrow I'll dig up the eggs she buried outside and pull together the video of her actually laying the eggs (wow!)
Sorry to be a 'forum hog' - but, after all she has been through, I am just so excited!!!!

First, I was amazed at the way she put everything back the way she found it. As always, she took the long road and dug through landscape pebbles until she reached dirt, and then dug in the dirt until she created a nest to lay her eggs, and then put it all back.

Here she is as she was filling in the hole she dug. The whole area was covered with pebbles when she started. Look to the left under her front legs...then see the results in the next picture.

last stage of burying and hiding eggs

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She scooted about, gathering pebbles and putting everything in place. The dirt on the right side of this pic is actually remnants of her kicking out dirt while digging the hole, not bad compared to how the same area looked in the picture above.
The place where she dug the hole and buried the eggs is on the left - she left it as she found it with exception of the torn off leaves (it was kind of funny hearing pebbles tossed around, even if it did take forever to finish).
Nature and instincts are amazing!

back to normal

here is the proud, yet pooped out Miss Penelope

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Now on to the boring, yet educational part -
I still don't get why she would lay eggs literally minutes after burying the first clutch - laying in the tank is never acceptable, but what is one to do, with all things considered? (rhetorical)
Whoops - used up my 3 image limit...on to another post...

[penelope]

Part II:
Egg stuff - these are the ones she laid right after she finished laying and burying her first clutch of 12 eggs a few minutes prior. Of course, there may be more. It was dark and I am waiting until morning to dig them up.

OK - being repetitive, I just cannot believe that she laid 6 "extra eggs" minutes after being put back in her tank
With the term "month" meaning 4 weeks, and facts based on vet exams and x-rays:
Month one: 3 eggs developed (she laid 1)
Month two: 10 eggs developed
Month three: 6 eggs developed (a presumption since they weren't on the x-rays 4 weeks prior)
Out of all that...Calculator ready...
In Penelope-world - it seems like it takes 4 weeks to develop a clutch, but anywhere from 4-12 weeks to lay a clutch (or clutches)
I'll ask the veterinarian if this is the norm - or maybe some Girl-Turtle veteran can chime in on their experience.

Miss Penelope will be going to the vet at the next available appointment (non-urgent, thank goodness) to get an x-ray and find out if she is done or if more eggs are on the way. Don't think it is necessary for everyone to run to the vet after their gal lays eggs, but with little Miss Penelope it is a necessary preemptive strike and will prepare me for next year.

Oh..Oh...Oh...can't wait to post her videos (I'm such a mom)
Tomorrow I learn how to clip & consolidate video and if all goes well, I can post "egg laying live"- discreet and dignified, but real nonetheless - wish me luck on my new technological learning curve.

Now, on to the reason for providing a calcium rich diet...

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[ljapa]

Wonderful news! And great photos too.

I agree the way Penelope covered her eggs was very impressive.

[ataraxiamb]

She must've felt so bloated and comfortable the last 3 months. How polite of her to clean up after herself! I've been rooting for this since the day I got here and this is just such fantastic news! Hopefully she slows down and doesn't become gravid again for a while.

You mentioned the possible impact of cuttlebone. Do you think it made her lay the eggs, or just resulted in some of them being of better quality? When did you first start her on cuttlebone?

[penelope]

I think the cuttle bone resulted in better quality because of the extra calcium (the last ones were the best).
Looked at the video and realized she laid 14 eggs outside.
Turns out there were 20 total!!
The ground was packed so hard that had I not known she laid eggs there, I would have sworn it was untouched.

I piled them all up.
The red square is a fair representation of the size of her plastron (the flat part only; not the edges)
- how on earth did they all fit?????

Got the video trimmed; now I just need to figure how to shrink the size. Guess I'll have to post a link tomorrow or something

[steve]

Wow, just had the chance to catch up! Hopefully the follow up visit will give more clues. A few of those eggs are huge

Do you think the hormones encouraged her to expel the remaining eggs?

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Boy i hope my diamondback lays 20 eggs lol. Dream come true!

[ataraxiamb]

Boy i hope my diamondback lays 20 eggs lol. Dream come true!

Are you a breeder?

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Are you a breeder?

Trying to be. I got two dbt eggs incubating right now as 3rd one was infertile.

[penelope]

I piled them all up.
The red square is a fair representation of the size of her plastron (the flat part only; not the edges)
- how on earth did they all fit?????

Guess it would have helped to post the picture...

Do you think the hormones encouraged her to expel the remaining eggs?

She never got that far. She just hung onto the first 2, then 10 more created on top of them, and then 8 more after that - three clutches in one.
She's been doing her little "shark" routine for two days (cruising along the top, but not being frantic). If I had to guess, I would say there are a few more in there.
I'll know when she goes in for x-rays. Don't know which day, have to wait until the vet is in tomorrow.

[ataraxiamb]

Is she sporting a bikini now that she's lost the baby weight? I can't believe there are MORE...

[penelope]

I can't believe there are MORE...

Oh there weren't any more. That was it; I just mentioned the image, but forgot to upload it - duh!
Yeah, she's almost ready for a bikini
She can actually walk without her hind end dragging

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Interesting she sure lays eggs with the weirdest shapes and sizes.