Huh, she’s a girl?!

Slow Coach’s true identity was actually revealed by accident. There are many birds in my residential areas like a few king fishers, mynas, pigeons and the pesky crows, of course. Naturally, one could spot bird nests on the trees nearby. Sometimes, I would find a bird nest on the giant bougainvillea plant in my garden. Many times I had found bird eggs there. I think it belongs to my favourite pair black and white mynas. Mr. and Mrs. Myna are wonderful singers. Every morning their sweet melodies fill the tranquil air. It’s a wonderful feeling to wake up to chirpy mornings, thanks to the mynas.

One day I found an egg on my balcony. I looked around but couldn’t find any nests nearby where the egg could have fallen from and the size of the egg was a little big to belong to a bird. The only other creature who roams the balcony was Slow Coach. I couldn’t believe my tortoise laid an egg. I thought she was a male?! Even her doctor said so.

It was only when I saw her pushing the egg out from her tail did I believed that my Slow Coach is a female. Geez, can’t believe everything a doctor say, can I?

Tortoise eggs are long and white in colour. You can see the orange yolk from the thin almost transparent white shell. When the eggs are laid, they felt warm and soft. It only hardens after a few minutes. If you leave it, the egg will become dented after a few days. Each time, Slow Coach would lay 1 to 2 eggs but it could be up to 4 eggs in one day.

As Slow Coach’s eggs are not fertilized, I let Slow Coach and Charlie eat them. They love eggs. There is no wastage at all because they even eat the egg shell as it is still soft when newly laid. Once Charlie found out that Slow Coach lays eggs, he started waiting behind her tail for his protein fix. Sometimes, when Slow Coach has not been laying eggs for a while, Charlie would bite her tail, as if asking her, “Hey babe, where’s my food?”. Hah, typical male!