Hope she lays and then you'll both be relieved. :-)

After a long time in there digging, she came out and had something to eat and then went to bed. She obviously gave up as she could feel the bottom I assume. I have now made it a lot deeper so fingers crossed for tomorrow and have incubators out of the loft ready. Well I have two. Both used to hatch and brood bird eggs. One is an incubator with a fan above and the other, a homemade incubator...polystyrene box with ceramic bulb and very accurate thermostat. Not sure what one to use (That's if I am lucky enough to get eggs that is)
Both are set at 30c . I wondered if the vibration of the van will be a problem? wasn't with duck eggs.
Anyway, your suggestions are appreciated :-)

Good luck, but in my experience, they can be very fussy, this can go on for a week or two, digging the abandoning the hole and starting again the next day, but give her plenty of choice for a potential nesting spot. And any time of day goes, a couple of weeks ago, I was out until 9.30pm waiting for one of mine to finish up!

As Suze says tortoises are really fussy where they lay:0) As you are finding out, all perfectly normal. She will lay eventually:0)
As for incubators, I only ever used a homemade one, with a heatmat for the heat, heat controller for the mat, a polystyrene box and vermiculite to put the eggs on in a plastic container. Oh and a thermometer to check temps. This worked well for over 25yrs, I have now stopped breeding tortoises.
You could try using both incubators (if you have a normal clutch up to 5 eggs) to see which works best:0)
As long as the conditions are correct, I dont think the vibrations will affect the eggs:0)
If you set at 30c you will mostly if not all get male tortoises from the eggs. 30.5 - 31 mixed clutch and 31.5 -32 more chance of female tortoise. I used to go for the higher temps as when adult you need at least three females to one male:0)

Thats interesting Sandy. I read 30 for mixed. I will increase it to 31 - 32

Definitely stick to 32 if you want mostly females

Well how excited am I!! :-)

Right so now...do I need to brush them clean and mark the top with pencil?
Do I need perlite or can I use this compost she laid in?


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Well I marked them and left them as they are unless I need to do anything else
I just would like advice on humidity? Should I put a lid on the container holding the eggs? some do some don't. Do I need to put a dish of water in there or keep soil moist/ dry or change for perlite ?
Sorry for all the questions

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You should put a tub of water in with the eggs, with a wide top if possible. And keep it topped up.
I never damped the substrate the eggs are in, and never used a lid:0)
Fingers crossed for the eggs.
They should have a pinkish tinge to them at the moment, if they are fertile they turn chalky white:0)
But always better to carry on for the full time, for the experience.

Congratulations! I bet you’re massively relieved. Fingers crossed they’re fertile.