Few more pics, of the hatchling and also a female nesting.
I work with, Radiata, Sri lankan stars, Burmese stars, all four pixys, (need oblonga female !! LOL) Specks Hingeback, Coura Picturata, and Flavos, oh and also Aldabra!!!
Thanks Will, facinating stuff!! she laid this egg during the on set of the monsoons that were two weeks early this year, June 16 th
I am suspecting I have more eggs on the ground. I see the same sequence with my Radiata , barometric pressure change almost always sets them off into nesting. we are supposed to get some rain tomorrow and I already see one of my females (radiata)walking around sniffing the ground. I also see this in G Elegans, I have one female that starts her season in the winter, I have never figured this out , I already have eggs from her this year (November 8th) , we are supposed to get rains tomorrow and I can almoist guarantee I will be digging up eggs from both these species by the weekend. The rest of the female Elegans dont start till Febuarary (earliest) and continues untill Auguest (the latest) , This is great for me as I have babies almost all year round. The key is to observe your females and keep good notes, you get to know them better than you think, and could almost pinpoint nesting. I have cameras in all my tortoise yards, this enables me to monitor egg laying wrom anywhere in the world!! I had my daughter dig up a clutch of eggs this summer while I was in Sri Lanka, and it was all done Via Facetime, and it absolutely facinated the officials at the dept of wildlife in SL. they watched the whole process on my Ipad, great stuff.
@kingsley What is the normal egg-laying season for wild Elegans in Sri Lanka? What is the weather that time of year? Do they choose open, sunny areas, or more in grassy or bushy locations? Is there a diapause for Elegans? How do you incubate?Thanks Will, facinating stuff!! she laid this egg during the on set of the monsoons that were two weeks early this year, June 16 th
I am suspecting I have more eggs on the ground. I see the same sequence with my Radiata , barometric pressure change almost always sets them off into nesting. we are supposed to get some rain tomorrow and I already see one of my females (radiata)walking around sniffing the ground. I also see this in G Elegans, I have one female that starts her season in the winter, I have never figured this out , I already have eggs from her this year (November 8th) , we are supposed to get rains tomorrow and I can almoist guarantee I will be digging up eggs from both these species by the weekend. The rest of the female Elegans dont start till Febuarary (earliest) and continues untill Auguest (the latest) , This is great for me as I have babies almost all year round. The key is to observe your females and keep good notes, you get to know them better than you think, and could almost pinpoint nesting. I have cameras in all my tortoise yards, this enables me to monitor egg laying wrom anywhere in the world!! I had my daughter dig up a clutch of eggs this summer while I was in Sri Lanka, and it was all done Via Facetime, and it absolutely facinated the officials at the dept of wildlife in SL. they watched the whole process on my Ipad, great stuff.
Interesting. The first person who I recall who found a correlation of reproductive activity and barometric pressure is Richard Fife. In the late 1980 he presented this in a seminar and I think many people did not receive his observation well. It makes sense that it will be at least one factor stimulating egg laying even if it is not a primary driver, but it may be.
Another interesting point is that even within one population of some species there are multiple reproductive strategies being employed, very contrary to an arribada.
This is fantastic info. Thank you for sharing!!!Mark, no need to diapause Elegans, I incubate them around 85-87 for 50-50 and go higher up 89 for TSF, like to keep the humidity around 65-70 and u can bump up the humidity the last two weeks. I use a 1:1 ratio by weight of vermiculite to water for the hatching media. I was in inland Sri Lanka by the base of the cloud forest looking for very large specimens, and came across newly hatched hatchlings and even the nest, I will post some pics of this in another post, giving 90-120 days for incubation , the eggs should have been laid around Feb-March. This is the same time period my main group starts to nest in Arizona.
The nest was definetely at higher ground and under lite brush. Feb-March is the dry season and hot, the onset of the Monsoons is usually mid June to August. Please note even during the dry season the RH is very high due to coastal humidity and the abundance of water in the so called dry zone, the areas the tortoises are found is refered to as the dry zones due to lower rain fall, but is reall sticky and muggy at all times.
I do diapause platynota for 30 days, and never been to Burma, but will some day!!
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Thank you so much for the info. As Tom said - invaluable. I so wish there were more actual field observations available. This helps so much.Mark, no need to diapause Elegans, I incubate them around 85-87 for 50-50 and go higher up 89 for TSF, like to keep the humidity around 65-70 and u can bump up the humidity the last two weeks. I use a 1:1 ratio by weight of vermiculite to water for the hatching media. I was in inland Sri Lanka by the base of the cloud forest looking for very large specimens, and came across newly hatched hatchlings and even the nest, I will post some pics of this in another post, giving 90-120 days for incubation , the eggs should have been laid around Feb-March. This is the same time period my main group starts to nest in Arizona.
The nest was definetely at higher ground and under lite brush. Feb-March is the dry season and hot, the onset of the Monsoons is usually mid June to August. Please note even during the dry season the RH is very high due to coastal humidity and the abundance of water in the so called dry zone, the areas the tortoises are found is refered to as the dry zones due to lower rain fall, but is reall sticky and muggy at all times.
I do diapause platynota for 30 days, and never been to Burma, but will some day!!
I