I have an egg

[Zoey1969]

Hi everyone. I have my first egg from a pancake and am wondering how often the females usually lay, I've read one egg can be produced anything from 2 to 8 weeks. I wanted people's real experiences really.
Thanks in advance Zoey

 

[Maggie Cummings]

They have a diapause period and a long incubation. If you have questions, I "think" Kelly breeds pancakes, I know someone here does. In the meantime, see if this helps you...
Pancake tortoises can lay multiple clutches of one, or rarely two, large eggs every four to eight weeks. The egg will usually measure about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide, with a hard, white shell. We mark each egg with the date and an "X" to show orientation when found. Care must be taken not to turn the egg as it is removed. It is then placed in a deli cup and covered about 60 percent with moistened incubation media. We place the egg in an incubator set for 79 degrees Fahrenheit for a six- to 12-week diapause period. After about six weeks, the egg is candled weekly. This means a light is placed up to the egg so you can see an outline of what is inside. When we see development of veins, we turn the temperature up to 80 degrees. Every couple of days, the temperature is turned up one degree until it reaches 86 degrees, where we leave it for the remainder of the incubation period. We maintain humidity in the incubator of 70 to 85 degrees. We have had babies hatch anywhere between 150 and 221 days, but incubation periods as short as 99 days and as long as 137 days have been reported. With this long, unpredictable incubation period, it is important not to give up on eggs.
Pancake tortoise hatchlings usually emerge quickly from the egg - often over night. When the egg has hatched, we remove the hatchling and rinse any incubation media off of it. We then soak it for about 15 minutes in a container of very shallow, warm water. The babies will often extend their necks and put the face in the water and drink. Due to their orientation during development, the plastron will appear to be folded. This will straighten out within 24 to 48 hours. We keep the baby in a container with a damp paper towel on the bottom and place it back in the incubator for a few days until the plastron has straightened out and healed completely. Even as hatchlings, these animals are very good climbers, so they need a container that will keep them from wandering around in the incubator. We take the hatchling out daily and soak it for about 10 to 15 minutes.

After about three to four days in the incubator, the hatchling will be ready for a more permanent setup. Care and setup for hatchlings is very similar to that of adults. We feed them the same diet as adults daily and provide a cuttlefish bone for supplemental calcium.

Ashley Rademacher holds a degree from Moorpark College in Exotic Animal Training and Management with emphasis on Behavior Management and Wildlife Education, and she currently cares for the reptile collection at Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. She has kept reptiles for most of her life, and her first pet reptile - an 18-year-old female green iguana - remains with her to this day.

 

[Zoey1969]

Thank you, I've read lots and reports seem to vary greatly

 

[yillt]

Hi everyone. I have my first egg from a pancake and am wondering how often the females usually lay, I've read one egg can be produced anything from 2 to 8 weeks. I wanted people's real experiences really.
Thanks in advance Zoey

Hello
congratulations. That's very exciting. Have you only got one?

 

[Yvonne G]

@Will has had some success with pancake breeding and egg laying.

 

[Jodie]

Congrats! Very exciting to start getting eggs.

 

[bouaboua]

Congrats! ! ! ! Can you share some photo of the egg?? Thanks.

 

[Zoey1969]

Only one so far, so hoping for more. I can share a photo from my phone and have more on laptop at home. I can post later

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

@Will has had some success with pancake breeding and egg laying.

So much experience in a few different setting that it defies the general rules.

Some eggs seem to do best with a diapause, others don't seem to require it, may even not do best with it. Diapause is an interruption to a 'normal incubation period'. This is not a well acknowledged let alone well know issue.

Incubation temps from 82F to 88F seem to work fine. At the moment I don't recall the author, but there is a pivot temp for males and females pretty well established at least for the population that was housed at the Columbus Zoo.

The Columbus Zoo and the Philly Zoo had tortoises from the northern most part of the range. Most that are in collections, from recent exports, at least for the USA (yeah I don't know about the UK) are from the southern more portion of the range. No doubt the reason for the many unreconciled observation in captivity.

I never had a female lay sequential eggs any more quickly than maybe 27 days(?). A well nourished female can lay at least five eggs in a year, maybe more, all fertile and producing healthy neonates. @tortadise has narrated about a female that laid clutches of more than two eggs. Two is the most I've seen from a single egg laying event.

Neonates can grow to adult size very fast with optimal conditions, about five years.

They are the most interesting tortoise species alive.

I like today's avatar Yvonne.

 

[Zoey1969]

Great post, thank you so much!

I too think they are a fantastic species!!!

So much experience in a few different setting that it defies the general rules.

Some eggs seem to do best with a diapause, others don't seem to require it, may even not do best with it. Diapause is an interruption to a 'normal incubation period'. This is not a well acknowledged let alone well know issue.

Incubation temps from 82F to 88F seem to work fine. At the moment I don't recall the author, but there is a pivot temp for males and females pretty well established at least for the population that was housed at the Columbus Zoo.

The Columbus Zoo and the Philly Zoo had tortoises from the northern most part of the range. Most that are in collections, from recent exports, at least for the USA (yeah I don't know about the UK) are from the southern more portion of the range. No doubt the reason for the many unreconciled observation in captivity.

I never had a female lay sequential eggs any more quickly than maybe 27 days(?). A well nourished female can lay at least five eggs in a year, maybe more, all fertile and producing healthy neonates. @tortadise has narrated about a female that laid clutches of more than two eggs. Two is the most I've seen from a single egg laying event.

Neonates can grow to adult size very fast with optimal conditions, about five years.

They are the most interesting tortoise species alive.

I like today's avatar Yvonne.

 

[Zoey1969]

Congrats! ! ! ! Can you share some photo of the egg?? Thanks.

Here's some more photos, I'm very excited!!!

 

[bouaboua]

That is a pretty good size egg. WOW!

Thank you fou sharing,

 

[Zoey1969]

That is a pretty good size egg. WOW!

Thank you fou sharing,

Happy to!!!

 

[african cake queen]

Hi everyone. I have my first egg from a pancake and am wondering how often the females usually lay, I've read one egg can be produced anything from 2 to 8 weeks. I wanted people's real experiences really.
Thanks in advance Zoey

Or a week, to a few weeks, , crazy cakes.

 

[african cake queen]

Or a week, to a few weeks, , crazy cakes.

When the female starts pacing back and forth, starts digging.I always know a head of time.

 

[Zoey1969]

Thank you, she had started digging again four days after laying, but has stopped again. Maybe she was just confused!

 

[african cake queen]

Thank you, she had started digging again four days after laying, but has stopped again. Maybe she was just confused!

 

[african cake queen]

They practice digging. Mine reilly like the back and forth pacing. I got it down well now. Lol.