If your imagination has a habit of running wild in idle time, feel free to add whatever you made up about living with either a sentient or more animal like dinosaur.
Egg laying:
Oora's troodontid species lays eggs once a year. Usually it is one to three eggs which are dark blue with black spots. The process of egg laying starts a week earlier though. Traditionally the male partner in the pair is expected to help during this time and is also later present at the laying.
The week before the event is used to help the female stretch her oviduct opening in the cloaca.
Pushing the eggs through is a painful experience and it was found over the past that preparation by gradual gentle stretching helps ease the discomfort. In our case, this is my job.
It can be done in two ways, either you use your fingers or a set of special smooth, wooden or bone pegs which are tapered and slowly increase in diameter. Cleanliness and care is of utmost importance when doing this, so I have to keep my nails filed and hands washed. It is common to see male dinosaurs in their respective egg season with rounded off claws on one or two fingers as a sharp claw would not do good in there.
The exercise is done one or two times a day with the female on her back, over the period of about 30 minutes.
When the time comes to finally lay the eggs, the male has two jobs.
I am handling the egg basket, which is a traditional woven, wooden bowl with indentations for up to 5 eggs. I have to seat each egg in it's place and let the cloacal fluid on it dry naturally.
The other task I do is more hands on. To further ease the pain, the partner can lightly slow down the egg as the other half is coming out. This allows the oviduct to close up slowly and gently so there is no sudden change in diameter.
The full basket is then either kept warm artificially or in more naturalistic pairs, the parents use their feathers and body heat.
Egg laying:
Oora's troodontid species lays eggs once a year. Usually it is one to three eggs which are dark blue with black spots. The process of egg laying starts a week earlier though. Traditionally the male partner in the pair is expected to help during this time and is also later present at the laying.
The week before the event is used to help the female stretch her oviduct opening in the cloaca.
Pushing the eggs through is a painful experience and it was found over the past that preparation by gradual gentle stretching helps ease the discomfort. In our case, this is my job.
It can be done in two ways, either you use your fingers or a set of special smooth, wooden or bone pegs which are tapered and slowly increase in diameter. Cleanliness and care is of utmost importance when doing this, so I have to keep my nails filed and hands washed. It is common to see male dinosaurs in their respective egg season with rounded off claws on one or two fingers as a sharp claw would not do good in there.
The exercise is done one or two times a day with the female on her back, over the period of about 30 minutes.
When the time comes to finally lay the eggs, the male has two jobs.
I am handling the egg basket, which is a traditional woven, wooden bowl with indentations for up to 5 eggs. I have to seat each egg in it's place and let the cloacal fluid on it dry naturally.
The other task I do is more hands on. To further ease the pain, the partner can lightly slow down the egg as the other half is coming out. This allows the oviduct to close up slowly and gently so there is no sudden change in diameter.
The full basket is then either kept warm artificially or in more naturalistic pairs, the parents use their feathers and body heat.