normally when a female becomes gravid she is restless and often relentless in her quest to find a suitable nest site.once she is satisfied she will proceed to dig with her hind legs excavating a nesting chamber and then laying and positioning the eggs before covering it, as she moves away. this often disguises the site so well that even though you have witnessed her laying it is still difficult to tell exactly where the eggs are .i have missed them by several inches when excavating a nest so if you dont find the eggs right away dont dispair and have a check around you may have just missed them.
terry
leopard tortoise nesting outdoors

hermans tortoise nesting in the greenhouse

terry, you are right. i sat and watched bonn lay her eggs, fill the nest is then shuffle around so all of the soil looked the same. as soon as i had her in the bath i started digging, could find the eggs and had to dig a little further over. i missed tham by about 4ins.....tiggy

definately right
i found 3 eggs a week ago, they were laid last year i hunted at the time but found nothing
it wasn't until i was planting a new hosta that i come across them
one had started to incubate - it wasn't a very nice sight!
Terry they're great pics

thanks Sue,its so easy to miss them unless you have seen them laid you may think it was a trial nest.it has been my experience trial nests rarely get filled in.so sorry to hear you missed a clutch,its so easily done.

Terry
great pictures of your leopard nesting.
I'm so glad i watched humpty dig her nest and lay as i wouldn't have known as the soil just looked like it was before ,its amazing to watch.
Jayne