Baby Russian tortoise pics

[biochemnerd808]

The Russian tortoise babies are getting so big! Duchess hatched at the end of May weighing 14g, and now weighs 59g at not quite 5 months old. The other 5 babies all have either already moved to their new homes or are shipping out in the next few weeks.
I thought you might like some pictures of Duchess (Timmy's Spring baby #2), who is the hatchling I'm keeping.









Stay tuned for baby pictures of the brand new hatches... coming VERY soon!

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

so cute!!! but theres one thing wrong, not enough pictures

 

[Carol S]

Very pretty shell.

 

[tortdad]

Cool looking tort


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)

 

[wellington]

Very nice. We don't get to see too many baby russians.

 

[lynnedit]

So adorable and healthy looking!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

~ Very nice!

 

[TortoiseRN]

Beautiful baby Katie!!!

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

SQUEEEE, she's too cute! Have the new babies hatched?

 

[rabbidbros10]

Cuteness overload

 

[biochemnerd808]

SQUEEEE, she's too cute! Have the new babies hatched?

One has hatched... and 3 more eggs are due in 7-ish days, and then 4 more eggs a month later. I'll be up to my eyeballs in babies!

Here's a pic of the fat baby that hatched on October 15th. I posted about her over in the 'breeding' section of the TFO.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

my russian laid about 12 eggs this year and not a single one was fertile! i am super jealous of your cute little baby torts!!! please post lots of updates!!!!!

 

[biochemnerd808]

my russian laid about 12 eggs this year and not a single one was fertile! i am super jealous of your cute little baby torts!!! please post lots of updates!!!!!

Have you had anyone help you trouble shoot why none of them were hatching? Did the female dig nest holes to lay them in? How do you incubate (equipement, temps, substrate)?

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

i had the eggs at 87 degrees and 67% humidity. she always dug nests for them about 4 inches in the ground. i used vermiculite as the substrate

 

[Moozillion]

What little beauties!!!

 

[biochemnerd808]

i had the eggs at 87 degrees and 67% humidity. she always dug nests for them about 4 inches in the ground. i used vermiculite as the substrate

That sounds right. Do you have the incubator set up with a thermostat, such as the one by Hydrofarm? The dial style thermostats aren't always reliable. I use bone dry incubation medium, but place several containers of water into the incubator to provide humidity.

 

[Earth Mama]

my russian laid about 12 eggs this year and not a single one was fertile! i am super jealous of your cute little baby torts!!! please post lots of updates!!!!!

Didn't you just get a clutch of eggs a few weeks ago? Maybe those will hatch?

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

hopefully they hatch. i think that was 2 weeks ago she laid them but they still have no signs of being fertile

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

That sounds right. Do you have the incubator set up with a thermostat, such as the one by Hydrofarm? The dial style thermostats aren't always reliable. I use bone dry incubation medium, but place several containers of water into the incubator to provide humidity.

i had 2 different thermostats. yes i had places to put cups of water

 

[biochemnerd808]

i had 2 different thermostats. yes i had places to put cups of water

In that case it really is strange that so many eggs would be laid in nest holes, but not be fertile. Could the male or the female still be too young? In my (admittedly limited) experience, eggs that are 'dumped' on the surface often aren't fertile. Eggs that are laid into nest holes usually are - females seem to know somehow whether it is 'worth' the work of digging a nest for them. The 3 eggs from last year that were laid on the surface didn't hatch. So far the ones laid this year have had a 100% hatch rate.