What to Do If Your Turtle Has Eggs but Won’t Lay? Full Steps for the “Enclosed Nesting” Method to Induce Egg-Laying

My female turtle has shown signs of wanting to lay eggs since April 1st. Today is April 15th, and as of yesterday, the turtle still wasn’t willing to lay the eggs. I’ve been observing her for the past few days; she keeps climbing onto the sand pile but just won’t lay the eggs. I checked on her last night, and she still hadn’t laid them, even though the eggs have already reached the base of her hind legs.

Method of Treatment

So in this situation, we have to switch to another method to get her to lay the eggs. Since it has been nearly 20 days and the eggs are already at the base of the hind legs, we can use the “Enclosed Nesting” method (Note: “Enclosed Nesting” is a method to induce smooth egg-laying by maintaining warmth and humidity while minimizing external disturbances) to help her lay the eggs successfully.

We can place the turtle alone in the coco coir and then cover it with a lid, but we must ensure ventilation. Next, place it in a quiet corner and try not to disturb her, allowing her to familiarize herself with the environment quickly. The best practice is to block out all disturbances so she can adapt faster.

About half an hour after this process, the turtle had already found a suitable spot and dug a pit with her feet to bury her body. This indicates that she is about to lay eggs, so we should not disturb her. The egg-laying process will last about 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the number of eggs.

The final step of egg-laying involves the turtle using her hind legs to bury the eggs with the coco coir she just dug out, ensuring her eggs remain undamaged. Therefore, seeing this step means the egg-laying is successfully completed. At this point, we can take the turtle out and compare her to before; you can clearly see that the turtle’s inguinal hollows are completely empty, indicating that the turtle has laid all the eggs and finished successfully.