General Care Discussion :: Egg Dent Repairs Itself?

[johnQguy]

Prior to building our beach in our pond, we found a potential viable egg on the bottom and [carefully] retrieved it and placed it in a homemade incubator....



That was 2 weeks ago. The day after we placed the egg into the vermiculite, we noticed an indentation appear on the lower-right of the top. It looked like it was going to collapse, but we left it alone because it did not stink or appear foul. We checked it every day and it did not change. The dent on the shell remained. I do not have a picture of the dent.

Then, overnight, the dent was gone and the shell was back to its regular shape. Here is how the egg appears now....



You can see the scar from where the dent was. We've never tried to incubate a RES egg, so we are wondering if anyone knows about this type of thing. It does not smell rotten, and maybe our eyes are playing tricks on us, but I swear I see it twitching as it rests in the vermiculite.

Any suggestions, thoughts, recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

[megcornell]

I'm not too experienced with turtle eggs, but from what I know, eggs laid in water are not viable.
The dent could have been pushed back out by gases in the egg, but I'd doubt that actual fetal growth was what caused it.

[spaceapple]

Yes, eggs will suffocate underwater if not removed quickly. I think it's unlikely that your egg is viable...but it won't hurt to wait and find out for sure!

[johnQguy]

We got it out pretty quick. Not sure how long it can be underwater before it dies. Wasn't more than a few hours. It's tough to tell if it is bad, so I guess that is what we are wondering. Expanding gas explains the dent popping back out. :-/

[untsmurf]

Bumby's Mom has successfully hatched turtles. You should PM her and she should be able to give you some insight.

[TheComputerGremlin]

When you hold a chicken egg up to a "candle" or incandescent bulb, supposingly you can see the baby chick inside. You could try that with the turtle egg?

[Bumby's Mom]

Yes, you can see the baby turtle inside of the egg by holding a flashlight underneath of it. You can see them moving their little legs and their head etc. Both of my eggs had a dent and then the dent went away but close to the end each egg dented again. Eggs can survive a pretty long time underwater before they drown. My eggs were in the water for 8+ hours. They do take 2-3 months to hatch so if you have only had the egg for 2 weeks it is pretty impossible for the embryo to be big enough for you to see it move. I didn't use an incubator. I put the eggs on paper towel inside of a plastic deli container and poked a few holes in the top of the container. I misted the eggs everyday or every other day and that was it... no lights no heat etc.

[spaceapple]

Sounds like you might have a pretty good chance after all!

[mistersampo]

If I remember correctly turtle eggs cannot be rotated. You have to make sure the fetus is correctly oriented or it will die.

[johnQguy]

Yeah... I think we may have a shot with this guy. I doesn't smell bad at all, so we'll see!

[TupacTheTurle]

any idea who the egg is from? big mama?

[johnQguy]

any idea who the egg is from? big mama?

Most likely, yeah... but we have seen the others lay eggs from time to time as well.

[ScrewZoo]

Do you have a land area with dirt so they can lay them there or do they just drop them in the water? I heard thats bad because they can crack in them.

[untsmurf]

I think they just added a sandy land area for egg laying.

[johnQguy]

Do you have a land area with dirt so they can lay them there or do they just drop them in the water? I heard thats bad because they can crack in them.