An "Empty-Eggs" mystery unfolded!

I spent my teen years in a small family poultry farm surrounded with swamps. There was once, over several days, when we went to collect the eggs after the hens have laid them, we were in rude shock to find that the eggs were just empty shells. There was a small opening nicely pricked at one end. This phenomenon took place daily and we were really puzzled.

Eventually, we decided to monitor the situation by setting up our own "Private Investigation" team. We hid in ambush during the hours when the hens were about to lay their eggs.

Bingo! This creature was sighted coming up from the swamp! It seemed to have made it a daily affair without realising that it was its last lunch. We were watching and tracking its movement with undivided attention as it clumsily crawled into the poultry shed. Immediately, the entire investigation team was mobilised and we quickly moved in and slammed the wooden door. The creature was trapped within the shed without any chance of escape. Instinctively, it still tried to escape by digging into the ground.

While discussing what to do with it now that it was trapped, we were on guard outside the shed and suddenly it stuck out its head through a gap at the foot of the wall, we made no mistake and nailed it right to the ground with an iron bar. When it became motionless, we dragged it out of the shed. Being a Science student who had done dissections during Biology classes, we overturned the creature and dissected it lengthwise. As expected, the whole eggs without the shells were found in its belly.

During our childhood days, we were quite used to eating the meat of wild boars and turtles, so the monitor lizard was not spared either. I remember my mother literally skinned it, slaughtered it and cooked it into tonic soup with herbs for the family.