[emma_mcraf]

Hi Steve,

I had my nesting sites at least 8-10” deep at the top, with well compacted soil, so it doesn’t all fall apart as she digs. I used to boil the kettle and pour it on to get it nice and compacted, but not soaking wet. It soon dries out if there’s heat on it.
You want to be able to squeeze it in your hand and it won’t break up. Also, they like the soil warm, but hopefully as yours is in a south-facing sunny garden, it should be warm enough.

I know some people have put their tort and nesting box in a quiet dark room with only a heat lamp over the nesting box for light and heat and that has encouraged them to lay, but I’ve had no experience of doing that; mine have laid indoors either late evening or early morning on a wet and dark day, so maybe there’s something they like about it being darker. That said, both laid in the winter and early spring and I know of lots of torts who lay in the middle of the day in the garden in the warmer months. I’m sure they’re all different.

I found they sniffed at the soil a lot just before starting to dig, testing it’s temperature possibly, but that was a great indicator of imminent digging.

Hopefully she’ll find a suitable site soon. Let us know how it goes.