A good reason to never give up on eggs.

[Vickie]

It just fascinates me I wonder as to why it took it so much longer then the rest. It is such a cute little dickens though!

 

[wellington]

It would be very interesting to know why some can and will take so long. A former member just had a RF hatch at 165 days that they thought was empty. The others had already hatched a while ago. Seems to be a common thing this year.

 

[tortadise]

Typical here too. Few weeks after the first pips they are all out or not fertile. Never dealt with lengths in this species at that long. Now pyxis, yeah had those guys take 200 to 265 days easy. But that's expected. Curious to see if the other 2 will hatch later. Time will tell.

 

[diamondbp]

Thanks for sharing such an interesting story.

I've had a 6 weeks span on my sulcata hatchlings so far with 3 eggs left to hatch. The ones that have hatched have all done so several days to over a week apart from each other. So strange!

 

[cdmay]

I wonder if some eggs are programmed to hatch later than the rest in their clutch? I've had eggs begin hatching at 4 months (give or take) but then others from the very same clutch sit there for an additional 3 or 4 months. The eggs are incubated the same and are right next to each other. The later hatchlings are perfectly normal even though they take up to twice as long to pip.
Maybe it's some survival strategy we simply don't understand.

 

[tortadise]

I wonder if some eggs are programmed to hatch later than the rest in their clutch? I've had eggs begin hatching at 4 months (give or take) but then others from the very same clutch sit there for an additional 3 or 4 months. The eggs are incubated the same and are right next to each other. The later hatchlings are perfectly normal even though they take up to twice as long to pip.
Maybe it's some survival strategy we simply don't understand.

You know. That may be a very good thought their. I know in sea turtles the eggs at the bottom hatch first to fill the hole with sand and it elevates the nest so they can all hatch and relatively be just inches under the sand to break free. I wonder what the process and placements of tortoise eggs are. Especially with leopards that are in winter season areas. If the permafrost, or frost line is lets 12" and the middle of the nest is 8", than I would imagine the temperature would vary just so slightly that the eggs on the bottom would hatch first then the ones on top later. But if the degree caused them to hatch weeks, months later. Hmmm time to start reading PDFs again.

 

[Anthony P]

This is extremely interesting Kelly, and I'm happy you shared it with us. Keep us updated on this little guy and keep up the good work. Congratulations.

 

[tortadise]

Well he is doing good. Couple more eggs still show growth. I might keep this one to see what sex it is. Same warm to hot temps but much longer. Wonder what sex it could be. Never had this happen with grassland. Yellow foots yeah but not leos or sullies.

 

[zman7590]

To be or not to be that is the question

Sent from my SGH-T769 using TortForum mobile app

 

[RGB]

Fascinating!
I may approach getting rid of my infertile eggs a little differently in the future!
Thanks for sharing.
Bob