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Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 16 Dec 2019, 10:58
by Heather
Hi folks - Achillea lives a bit of a topsy-turvey life, & I'm pretty sure our winter is her summer!

In the last few days she's been behaving oddly, including doing a bit of faux excavating on a paved area, so I tried the washing up bowl of warm, friable, damp soil, which I thought enticing, to no effect. (Nina - you mentioned Doris used a bowl successfully, when I queried a hint of red urine a year ago!). I have now supplied her a shallower trough near her lamp, that she can climb into, free access, in the hope she may be interested at any time.....she isn't!

She's pacing the corridors!

I've been bathing her often to maybe help, & I am wondering on the timescale from her showing 'odd' signs, to actually wanting to lay.

Not panicking, but wanting to help her.

Thanks,

Heather

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 16 Dec 2019, 11:53
by Nina
Hi Heather,
She's left it a bit late to start making your Christmas present methinks!

First of all was she excavating with her front legs or rear? They do dig a bit with their front legs to start with, but it is mainly with the back legs.

They do often pace about for quite a while before they start proper digging -- maybe a couple of weeks (although Doris doesn't usually take that long). They are very particular about choosing the right spot.

I would try the washing up bowl again, with a board for a ramp going up to it, so that she can come and go. First put her on the soil in the filled bowl and then she can use the ramp to go down and that will teach her that she can also use the ramp to go up. In order to dig a proper nest the soil needs to be as deep as Achillea would be tall if she were standing upright on her hind legs(so it does need to be deep). I can't remember how big she is, but the container also needs to be big enough for her to sit in it and have plenty of room behind her to dig the nest without hitting the sides of the container (I needed a bigger one this year for Doris).

Good luck, and let us know how she gets on. I'm in Uganda now and don't always have Internet access, but will keep checking, and hoping for a good result!

Nina

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 16 Dec 2019, 11:57
by Heather
Hind legs Nina - in that way they do if they are very large, leathery, & on a vast sandy beach with an Attenborough nearby!

Heather :roll:

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 16 Dec 2019, 12:28
by Nina
:D :D yes, she's definitely in laying mode!
This is exciting!

Nina

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 16 Dec 2019, 19:55
by lin
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Lin


> & on a vast sandy beach with an Attenborough nearby!
>
> Heather :roll:

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 24 Dec 2019, 19:42
by Heather
Still nothing laid - just loads of wandering about, hiding in odd places, & very little eating. Bathing her every two days or thereabouts, & she's eating her small slice of cucumber c/w Nutrobal daily.

Where's a film crew when you need one?!

Heather

Re: Wanting to lay eggs...

Posted: 25 Dec 2019, 11:46
by lin
:lol: You just can’t get the staff now-a-day’s.
Merry Christmas Heather, she will keep you on tenterhooks for weeks yet I reckon..

Lin