Are we hatching? Egg maintenance.

[pinkspore]

These were laid on 5/13 and have been incubated at the high end of 86-88 degrees. I've been glancing at them a couple of times a week and otherwise ignoring them. This egg looked fine earlier this week, now it looks like this:


Could it be hatching? Isn't it too soon?

Of the remaining three eggs, one looks normal, one has a big dent in the side:


And one looks furry.


The eggs are sitting in the same dirt in which they were laid, and there are a bunch of tiny bugs in there. Should I worry about replacing it or just leave it alone?

If the broken egg is hatching, do I need to worry about the hypothetical baby turtle getting enough air inside the cooler?

Is it obvious I've never done this before?

 

[Vickie]

I hope someone can help you. Did you candle them to make sure they are fertile? Also, unsure about the bugs but can tell you I would be worried myself. A lot of bugs as other animals like to eat them.

Again, hope it turns out ok for you and someone can be of help.

 

[Greg T]

I don't now specifically about box turtle eggs, but based on what I've been going through with my leopard eggs, I think you may have a bad egg there. I doubt 30 days is enough time since it takes about 100 days for mine. Also, when mine hatch, the hard outer shell of the egg cracks and pops everywhere, so it look totally different than what I see on in your pictures. If it is alive then you should see it moving in and out because it will be a head or a leg. It is possible these are non-fertilized eggs.

I would go get some non-fertilized vermiculite (I use Sta-Green brand from Lowes) and replace the dirt. This will get rid of the bugs. Keep it real moist in there - high humidity is needed. Your temps are the same range I use.

 

[pinkspore]

On closer inspection, that is definitely a tiny beak poking out. The eggs are at 46 days, not sure if this little guy is going to make it. The egg around him appears to be empty, and I don't want to tape/Vaseline him back in since his head is poking out. His eyes are closed and he's not moving.

The tub is floating in several inches of water inside the cooler, humidity has consistently been at 99%. I haven't candled the eggs or changed their substrate because I read on the forums that they are very sensitive to handling. I was planning to just incubate them until they hatch or explode.

 

[pinkspore]

Morning update, baby turtle is still alive and moving. Not sure if there's any way to help him. Gonna try posting in another area of the forum to see if I can get more help.

 

[Bibbit]

Morning update, baby turtle is still alive and moving. Not sure if there's any way to help him. Gonna try posting in another area of the forum to see if I can get more help.

I have no experience to help, but this sounds very stressful. I got a female this year to go with my males with the thought of getting eggs some day. However, I would go crazy with worry if that ever happens.

Good luck. I have a feeling the conventional wisdom would be that nature will take its course.

 

[diamondbp]

I've bread box turtles for many years. For the one hatching, remove it from the container onto a new container with moist paper towels and close it. It will have enough air for several days. The last thing you want is the bugs getting inside the egg where they can cause problems .

The egg with the dent is either caused by lack of moisture or it being infertile . It's hard to tell from the clarity of the picture which it is.

But like I said first step is remove the hatching egg and place it in a new container with moist paper towels.

---

That last picture of the bottom egg is definitely a bad egg. I would remove that one as well. It looks like its covered in fungus

 

[pinkspore]

Progress!

I posted over in the breeding section and got some great advice to just let her do her thing and move her after her yolk sack is absorbed.

I'm also not planning to remove or discard any eggs unless they actually explode, apparently they can still hatch even when they look horrific. Someone else just had a healthy leopard tortoise hatch after nine months of incubation!