We have hatching

[tortadise]

Finally a method that worked. Unfortunately 14 of the eggs were not viable. I in the second aquarium. Those eggs were traditionally incubated for 2 weeks then buried in some shallow soil.

However the remaining that were initially buried hatched very well. 4 full term deaths were present and 1 infertile. The other 14 are hatched and almost completely sucked up. Feisty little buggers.

Here is the original thread on when they were laid and methods used.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/july-4th-eggs.95676/

First guy was almost tunneled above the nest. I investigated to check the eggs and found him barely at the top.


A nice soak

And then off to dig up the brothers and sisters



A few have started munching already


And of course a special one for @Jacqui a split scute or zipper back one.

 

[naturalman91]

i love the shell color

 

[tortadise]

Oh and @Yvonne G not a single gnat in site. And the tanks these eggs incubated in were kept in the "greenhouse" open windows and doors and a complete remodel all summer with a screen top on it. Not one single gnat, fly, ant, or anything. Each time I dug up to check on the eggs they were as perfect when laid.

 

[Jabuticaba]

Neat!! They're so beautiful!


May
THBs: Darwin & Merlin
Aussies: Dax, Vegas, & Cricket
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[N2TORTS]

AWESOME!....

 

[Benjamin]

Most excellent news!

 

[HermanniChris]

This is excellent Kelly. Congrats. I'll be making an in depth post next month on the method I used with the success and/or failure of the 31 fertile eggs from one of our M. e. emys. Fingers crossed for a better outcome than the 63 M. e. phayrei eggs that were infertile earlier this summer for us.

Again congrats.

 

[diamondbp]

Such a cool species. Congrats

 

[tortadise]

This is excellent Kelly. Congrats. I'll be making an in depth post next month on the method I used with the success and/or failure of the 31 fertile eggs from one of our M. e. emys. Fingers crossed for a better outcome than the 63 M. e. phayrei eggs that were infertile earlier this summer for us.

Again congrats.

Fantastic. That sucks Chris. I know your specimens are more than old enough to fertilize. Maybe try this method it worked very very well. Was exactly the same but with different substrates as olive Ridley sea turtle eggs we collected in Costa Rica. Those eggs are same incubation duration, same size, soft shelled, and same flies/ants attack. It seemed too when I candled the first 2-3 weeks that fertility wasn't too good. But this proved completely wrong. Only 2 didn't hatch that weren't fertile. 4 died in eggs, and 15 didn't develop to stage 2(different method that obviously didn't work)

 

[Yvonne G]

This is great news, Kelly!

 

[tortadise]

This is great news, Kelly!

I can't wait until next year. The trial tank for a lot of the eggs I think will not hatch. I dug them up and they all were semi caved in and very light. When candled they showed nothing. So they either got too wet or dry. Or simply the limited covering of the soil(2") was not enough to accomplish what the other tank that had the success.

What is interesting too. Is 4 of the full term deaths were the eggs on the outside of the nest closest to the corner I added water to the gravel mix at the bottom of the tank. So I think these absorbed too much water. Still some fine tuning next year to put in place. But all perfect hatchlings. Each one was pipped identical and the sacs were almost completely sucked up. I'm very excited about this for sure. This method was very very easy and showed minimal concern during the process. No gnats, no temperature worries. Amazing how traditional incubation proves "fatal" is temps over 86-87 to those. But for 4-5 weeks the t stat read 100-102 a few times center of the nest. So I think some data loggers are in store for next year to calculate average nest temperature. Will be interesting seeing these in 5-6 years as to which sexes were produced too.

 

[Yvonne G]

So, Kelly, let me be sure I'm understanding correctly: You put gravel and sand in the bottom of a 10 gallon aquarium, then your soil mixture, then added the eggs and covered them with more of the soil mixture. You didn't have any heat source other than the ambient temperature inside the tortoise house which is call a 'greenhouse' and is painted green. The eggs hatched without any incubator or heat, just the ambient temp inside the tort house. And, what was the temp inside the house?

 

[tortadise]

Correct. I also moved the tanks about 10 times because they were in the way of the remodel. So they went through some serious movement and absolutely no heat or cooling at all. We got a few cool snaps early on. They dropped as low as 71 for a combined week, and as high as 102 is what the thermometer read middle of the nest for a good while. All the windows and doors were open too. So basically end of spring beginning of summer ambient. Crazy huh? For sure will be getting a data logger for next year so I can see exactly what the temps dropped and rose. I added water only once to the substrate as it seemed a little dry on top about 3 weeks ago. But yesterday I found I didn't need too. Where the eggs were was quite moist but still dry.

 

[mrscruffy]

Congratulations, they are beauties. I wonder how the natural incubation will affect the gender ratio?

 

[tortadise]

Congratulations, they are beauties. I wonder how the natural incubation will affect the gender ratio?

Not sure. These I will be keeping a majority of to find out. Won't be able to tell for 3-4 years when they are big enough to undergo endoscopy.

 

[tortadise]

Here's some more.

Soaking it up. One I put in the incubator, it's sac was kinda big, so a day or few more to soak it up before he joins the party.



Almost completely sucked up. I'd imagine they pipped 2-4 days ago being this flattened out and sucked up.

 

[Jacqui]

... yes, Mr Kelly, you can ship that one to me!!

 

[kathyth]

Gorgeous babies!! Looking forward to watching them grow
Congrats!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Good Job on the eggs, now more work to raise them little dudes. I think the Manouria club is smaller than the Pyxis club, now that's a big deal, Yeah!!

 

[tortadise]

Good Job on the eggs, now more work to raise them little dudes. I think the Manouria club is smaller than the Pyxis club, now that's a big deal, Yeah!!

Yes indeed. They can be tough to raise up for sure. I gotta plan though.