Tortoise Nest Temperature Data Collection

wccmog10

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I starting using the baskets primarily so they wouldn't dig up each other's, or their own, nests.

Good thinking. I’m picturing arribadas in Mexico with Kemp’s Ridleys. Back when the arribadas were going strong (I don’t know what there status really is now) the females would dig each other’s nests up. There were literally so many turtles nesting there was not enough room.
 

CarolM

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I just had a thought, and I think it might throw off the humidity readings. The watering of my garden. ! So I am not sure how accurate the humidity readings will be.
 

Markw84

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I just had a thought, and I think it might throw off the humidity readings. The watering of my garden. ! So I am not sure how accurate the humidity readings will be.
Although not totally natural if it produces a successful hatch from the egg nearby, it is still very useful data. Exact, timeline data of conditions that work.
 

CarolM

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Although not totally natural if it produces a successful hatch from the egg nearby, it is still very useful data. Exact, timeline data of conditions that work.
Okay. There has actually been an egg placed very near the spot I buried the sensor push. Which should be hatching sometime between March and April.
 

kingsley

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Merry Christmas all!!! I want to take a few data loggers to Sri Lanka next year and have them in key areas that have always puzzled me. We have found many a Elegans hatchlings in these areas but according to the researchers the areas are usually completely flooded during the rains. I have always wondered how the ova survive submersed in these areas and what temps the nest sites drop down to. Can the data loggers work submersed?
 

kingsley

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I am talking long term in a water proof setup?
 

kingsley

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Here is another product that i purchased for nest monitoring . The company is based out of Utah. Monnit , I think if Toms Paradalis nests are closer to his home we can get some exact data From the nest itself!!! Without much disturbance to the nest at all . Add a micro camera with a light we can candle the eggs on a routine basis and get an idea when embryonic development starts. I am more than willing to ship the sensors to Tom.
 

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CarolM

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My thinking is to be sure the same amount of soil depth is on top of the container as would be on top of the egg. Pack it down firmly as tortoises take hours packing the soil above an egg chamber. Be sure it is the same type of native soil that a tortoise is using as soil type makes a difference as well. Not sure if humidity will be totally accurate as a tortoise releases quite a bit of water in a nest as she digs. All of the species I work with also make a nice mud plug to seal the top of the egg chamber to also protect and would keep in humidity. But with a single egg, perhaps Dan has better insight on how a Chersina lays and constructs the nest.

Do you have another sensor that we can get a concurrent graph of ambient outdoor air and humidity? That would be awesome. I build graphs like the one earlier in this post with the data from the two sensors aligned by time for comparison. Perhaps you could email a download file every few weeks or so?

Thank you so much for doing this!!!!!!
I bit the bullet and ordered another sensor push. It should arrive around the 3rd of Jan. Which I will put outside above ground so that you can compare it to the one underground.
 

Sterant

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Hey guys. Merry Christmas!! sampling tortoise nests where I live will be useless but I will volunteer to take everyone’s raw data and organize it into publishable reports. Carole’s data and Tom’s data will be very useful for the CAWG. Kingsley’s SriLankan data will be fantastic as well.
 

wccmog10

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Merry Christmas all!!! I want to take a few data loggers to Sri Lanka next year and have them in key areas that have always puzzled me. We have found many a Elegans hatchlings in these areas but according to the researchers the areas are usually completely flooded during the rains. I have always wondered how the ova survive submersed in these areas and what temps the nest sites drop down to. Can the data loggers work submersed?

The data loggers that we used for research, we would put them into these pvc housings (they were about 3 inches in diameter and 4 or 5 inches tall) with dry rite. The dry rite is a desiccant that would change color if it was exposed to moisture, so that you would know if your data loggers got wet. We completely submerged these for over a year in a few cases. We tied a string to the loggers housing, and tied the other end to a concrete block or root/tree and left it completely submerged to get water temperature of the river. So- if you seal it correctly, I don’t see why you couldn’t completely submerge the loggers you are working with. You just have to be prepared to loose the logger, if the housing fails.
 

kingsley

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They don't seem to dig a flask shaped nest. The 15 nests I saw this year were all about 4" deep and were just straight down holes. the egg was deposited and then buried. they do release a lot of urine during the process so the egg and surrounding dirt is generally soaked. I am literally watching one nest right now!

Agree , The nests of my females were very shallow.
 

kingsley

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The data loggers that we used for research, we would put them into these pvc housings (they were about 3 inches in diameter and 4 or 5 inches tall) with dry rite. The dry rite is a desiccant that would change color if it was exposed to moisture, so that you would know if your data loggers got wet. We completely submerged these for over a year in a few cases. We tied a string to the loggers housing, and tied the other end to a concrete block or root/tree and left it completely submerged to get water temperature of the river. So- if you seal it correctly, I don’t see why you couldn’t completely submerge the loggers you are working with. You just have to be prepared to loose the logger, if the housing fails.
Do you have any pics of the housings? We could completely seal the logger in a piece of pvc pipe and two end caps.
Pelican makes small dry cases that might work , but will shut off the humidity .
 

wccmog10

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Do you have any pics of the housings? We could completely seal the logger in a piece of pvc pipe and two end caps.
Pelican makes small dry cases that might work , but will shut off the humidity .

I can’t remember the brand names and such, my research didn’t directly involve the data loggers. I’ve sent a few messages to people to try and get the brands and such. I’ll post whatever information I can. Yes- no humidity data. These loggers were temp only. I don’t think they were capable of humidity.
 

Markw84

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Hey guys. Merry Christmas!! sampling tortoise nests where I live will be useless but I will volunteer to take everyone’s raw data and organize it into publishable reports. Carole’s data and Tom’s data will be very useful for the CAWG. Kingsley’s SriLankan data will be fantastic as well.
@kingsley Do you have some raw data for Sri Lankan nests? Could I possibly get the raw data from the data loggers as well. I am compiling a set of charts from as many species as possible.
 

Markw84

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@CarolM I have 3 data loggers all set and ready to go to you. I have been ill the past few days and with all the holiday rush, should get them mailed to you Monday. They estimate with the holidays it may take about 10 days for you to get them. It is postal service so sent to your home address.

They are already running and set to record every 30 minutes. That give a great data set of daily swings and will record for up to 666 days - plenty long. all you need to do is place 2 in nest locations (for redundancy) and one for ambient air recording.

I love that you have the sensorpush also running now. It will give us readings as we go instead of having to wait to retrieve the data loggers at the end before we see any data.

Thank you! And... Merry Christmas to you!
 

wccmog10

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I can’t remember the brand names and such, my research didn’t directly involve the data loggers. I’ve sent a few messages to people to try and get the brands and such. I’ll post whatever information I can. Yes- no humidity data. These loggers were temp only. I don’t think they were capable of humidity.

The brand was hobo.

I think this is the website to purchase them is:
https://www.onsetcomp.com/

It looks like they have come out with new models and stuff, I do not see what we used offered for sale anymore. They have data loggers for all sorts of things.
 

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