The first egg of my exbatts was laid in the cardboard box, as they didn't get off immediately, they were too scared. It was the only egg of the day. The next days I found one or two eggs scattered everywhere, but not in the nest box and I've noticed that some of them expelled the egg even standing up. Little by little they learned to use the nest boxes and to pick the straw to make the nest more confortable. About a week later I've had a surprise: I found eleven eggs under a dry lavender bush in the garden... wonderful!