First Clutch of Sulcatas!

[Snads]

Hey everyone!

I haven't been to active on this thread, but I love tortoises and have always used the info here to help me out as I take care of mine. There has been some great advice so thank you all for sharing your knowledge. I own a Russian Tortoise thanks to a current forum member. I have also been raising sulcatas for some time and finally decided to breed them and see how I like it after doing much research.

Yesterday my big female (I used her for my profile picture) laid her first clutch ever! She laid a whopping 30 eggs! One was cracked open unfortunately and 2 have slight cracks in them, but the rest are great. I am going to go ahead and incubate the 2 with slight cracks in them and see what happens.

I built my own incubator using an old wine cooler with a ceramic heat emitter inside attached to a thermostat. I have attached some pictures. Please take a look and let me know if you have any recommendations. From what I've read, it seems best to incubate anywhere from 84 degrees F to 89. I have mine set at 87. Also, I was wondering how high I should keep the humidity inside. I added water to vermiculite for my substrate.

 

[Tank'sMom]

How's it going for your clutch and has your female laid another clutch yet?

 

[Snads]

She has! Thanks for asking. She laid another clutch of 30 eggs last week. I put them in the same incubator, however now it is full, so I may need to make another in case she has any more clutches. I noticed one of my eggs from her original clutch started to mold. I picked it up and it felt very light, so I figured it wasn't fertile and removed it. I opened it up just to confirm and it was indeed not fertile. From what I've read, I probably still have a good 2 more months before my first clutch hatches.

 

[Tom]

From what I've read, it seems best to incubate anywhere from 84 degrees F to 89. I have mine set at 87. Also, I was wondering how high I should keep the humidity inside. I added water to vermiculite for my substrate.

Please please please read this:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

Congratulations and good luck.

 

[Snads]

Thanks guys, and Tom, thank you. That is some very good information. Does anyone know what the usual hatch rate is for Sulcatas?

 

[Davesulcatas]

How many hatched first clutch