Some little new guys!

tortadise

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warmed up quite a bit. First round of leopards are emerging. I utilized a method for the leopards that I use for Manouria. Clump the eggs together as if they were laid in ground naturally, bury with soil, peat, sphagnum, and a little sand. It's fun. They emerge fully absorbed and ready to roll. Some interesting split scute ones too. These should be the last intragrades of babcocki/pardalis. The male has been
Seperated from the female for a few years now. Fertility has dropped as well. Still. Looking for a male pardalis for the female. But for sure some interesting babies.

image.jpeg
A split for @Jacqui of course and almost patternless.
image.jpeg
And a wood turtle hatched out too. Same method of incubation just with More sphagnum and higher moisture.
image.jpeg
image.jpeg

Quite a few Redfoots have hatched too. But didn't snap any photos. That's it for now folks. Everything else is still cooking.
 

wellington

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Loooovvvveeee the split scute. Love the way you incubated too. I might try to copy that next time. I didn't have much luck my first time around. Plus I bet it's a real hoot watching them come out like they wood in the wild.
 

tortadise

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Loooovvvveeee the split scute. Love the way you incubated too. I might try to copy that next time. I didn't have much luck my first time around. Plus I bet it's a real hoot watching them come out like they wood in the wild.
Did the eggs go bad? Or are they still in the incubator? These keep in mind were laid may 5th of 2015 and just started to hatch. So 11 months for the 1st clutch. They will hatch depending on fertility percentage loss of the last(5th clutch) that was laid all through the summer. Since she has been with a babcocki I notice only about 4-8 out of 65-72 eggs typically laid hatch at 7 months early earlier. Temperatures kept in high 80s to low 90s during the later 80% of incubation is the hotter portion of the term. So I am thrilled indeed to get a male pardalis again to breed her. When I had a male pardalis with her the eggs were anywhere from 11-22 months. 22 months of course were in ground hatched though in north Texas. Frost and winters can cool the soil quite a bit, even in soil inside a greenhouse which is where they were. Don't give up. Especially with leopards. Yah never know what region of mixture of purity the male/female could be from.
 

tortadise

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Here are the eggs before I covered them many moons ago. Obviously I had no labeling system as to which clutch was what. But so far the ones in the middle started to pans hatch first. I've had to readjust the soil a few times.
image.jpeg
 

wellington

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One hatched and one had a dead one inside. I have 20 eggs left. All but two eggs were laid last fall. The rest is still cooking, but 5 looking like they are going to start smelling soon and the others, which at one time were weighty and looked to be filled solid, now look like they are empty, but with half the shell looking dark, except two of them. Last year was the females first time laying. Temps 89 and humidity 80 in a incubator in the basement. I won't stop cooking them until it's really obvious they are bad but I don't have much hope. The two that feels solid and dark/filled inside are my only real hope that I might get them to hatch. Will have to just keep waiting.
Didn't know they could go as long as yours have gone. I thought mine were way past the time of any hope. Yours going that long gives me some hope that I might get at least one or two more.
 

wellington

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Here are the eggs before I covered them many moons ago. Obviously I had no labeling system as to which clutch was what. But so far the ones in the middle started to pans hatch first. I've had to readjust the soil a few times.
View attachment 169590
That's pretty cool. Do you think the ones in the middle were warmer then the ones on the outside, by being insulated from the pile up and causing them to hatch first?
If you catch them digging their way out, would love to see a vid or pic of it.
 

tortadise

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One hatched and one had a dead one inside. I have 20 eggs left. All but two eggs were laid last fall. The rest is still cooking, but 5 looking like they are going to start smelling soon and the others, which at one time were weighty and looked to be filled solid, now look like they are empty, but with half the shell looking dark, except two of them. Last year was the females first time laying. Temps 89 and humidity 80 in a incubator in the basement. I won't stop cooking them until it's really obvious they are bad but I don't have much hope. The two that feels solid and dark/filled inside are my only real hope that I might get them to hatch. Will have to just keep waiting.
Didn't know they could go as long as yours have gone. I thought mine were way past the time of any hope. Yours going that long gives me some hope that I might get at least one or two more.
Yep. One day years back when I first got the big female I have I was going to chunk a clutch. Well I got busy and forgot and bam they all hatched, and looked no good when I candled them. So from their on out I never threw hers away. Hers have always taken forever. Especially when she was with a South African male. Diapause or no diapause they always take at least 10-11 months sometimes 12 if I incubate them a little cooler. I'm going to try the outdoor method now though since moving to south Texas and the weather is more than perfect for outside year around incubation.
 

tortadise

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That's pretty cool. Do you think the ones in the middle were warmer then the ones on the outside, by being insulated from the pile up and causing them to hatch first?
If you catch them digging their way out, would love to see a vid or pic of it.
Not sure. It's been the same way for the Burmese Browns too. The middle hatched first and they dig out to the side of the nest and the eggs on top work their way to the middle where the hatched ones were. It's kinda fun digging around and feeling little turtles 5-6" away from where the eggs were originally placed. The wood turtle was the same thing. He was about 2" under the dirt on the opposite side of the incubator. I'd suppose having them clumped together probably does emulate some sort of addition energetic heat, and vibration when they do start to hatch. I haven't found a pinhole camera that keeps a battery long enough to stick in the middle of the nest. Plenty of corded thermostats but not a camer yet. One thing I tried to do with the mountains was leave a portion of glass to where I could see the eggs when they did hatch. But they're so sensitive I decided against it. Maybe I'll try it with a brute egg species like leopard or sulcatas. That would be a neat thing to watch. Especially for kids when I get the center open.
 

N2TORTS

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Sweet...! Love the White Lil Leo.......:)
 

wellington

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I just thought about a sewer/water drain camera. Plumbers use them to snake down drains to see if there is a blockage and where it is. I wonder if this would work for filming the hatching. Not sure how small they are and if you can get them to work on a timer or by movement, but someone might know how to rig it that way. Just a thought to look into.
 

Cheryl Hills

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warmed up quite a bit. First round of leopards are emerging. I utilized a method for the leopards that I use for Manouria. Clump the eggs together as if they were laid in ground naturally, bury with soil, peat, sphagnum, and a little sand. It's fun. They emerge fully absorbed and ready to roll. Some interesting split scute ones too. These should be the last intragrades of babcocki/pardalis. The male has been
Seperated from the female for a few years now. Fertility has dropped as well. Still. Looking for a male pardalis for the female. But for sure some interesting babies.

View attachment 169583
A split for @Jacqui of course and almost patternless.
View attachment 169584
And a wood turtle hatched out too. Same method of incubation just with More sphagnum and higher moisture.
View attachment 169585
View attachment 169586

Quite a few Redfoots have hatched too. But didn't snap any photos. That's it for now folks. Everything else is still cooking.
Oh, I clam that little single one there. He is so cute, no dots! But, they are all really cute!
 

tortadise

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Interesting method. I've never even thought of that--pretty cool!
It works quite well. I always question things. When I was 12 I read a book on incubation and all the extreme details of it and wondered "wow so many details". But after being successful year after year hatching stuff i realized it's not hard at all and pushed the limits. Now for species like Pyxis, kinixys, and chilensis is probably not try the clump method. But no reason it shouldn't work. It happens in nature that way or in ground. So why not in a box with warmth?
 
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