TheLastGreen
Well-Known Member
Do leopards hatch in a specific time of year? I heard some people say that they will hatch at the end of November, when the first rain has arrived.
Also do leopards hibernate?
Also do leopards hibernate?
Leopard hatching period
- Thread starter TheLastGreen
- Start date
No they don't...they need supplemental heating during the winter...Sulcata and Leopards are hatched out in the rainy season and they spend most of their first year in a damp nest
TheLastGreen
Well-Known Member
O ok, I saw a woman on facebook saying you should wrap them in hay and place in a box for Winter! How ridiculous!
Most of the people on FB don't have a clue about tortoises.
Leopards is what I have. No they do not hibernate.
My leopards that I did hatch all hatched in November. They were laid in late summer/early fall when nights got colder.
Most seem to be laid late summer/early fall when the nights are cold. At least mine were and another member who is in TX seem to have the most eggs laid at that time. Then hatched in November. Not really our rainy season. But that rainy season thing may really only apply in their native home.
TheLastGreen
Well-Known Member
This person is apparently a tortoise guru, and has been "studying" leopards for 22 years.
Some of the things the person posts feels like a fever dream.
Hopefuly some leopards hatch in the coming month, when it rains
Some of the things the person posts feels like a fever dream.
Hopefuly some leopards hatch in the coming month, when it rains
That's scary that they think that.
Humbug & Maz
Active Member
I had to stop reading those FB threads! Honestly the crap you see on there is crazy! I just stick with this forum now and always keep learning something new about different species of torts 
TheLastGreen
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'll do the same, the problem is the person lives on a farm and has... older believes when it comes to torts, feels like something from the 70's. But you are right, this forum has byfar the best info and members anywhere!
This is a complex question. It depends on where a person lives in the world and also on what type of leopard we are talking about. The lady is correct in some circumstances.
When ground hatched here in my part of the USA, they hatch in October or November, after the heat of a long hot summer produces enough ground heat to incubate them. I just had 4 SA leopards hatch out of the ground last month. So yes, it is very seasonal in this case. The adult females lay their eggs from May to November every year, and the eggs stay in the ground over summer, fall, winter, spring, and then hatch AFTER the NEXT summer. To be clear: The eggs that just hatched at my place in October 2021, were laid in spring/summer of 2020.They are thriving and doing great now. In the southern portions of the RSA, they would hatch probably in March or April after your summer heat. I don't think monsoonal rains play much of a part for the SA leopard varieties, though it probably does for some of the clades from other parts of Africa, including the Ethiopian and Somalian giants.
There are now 11 recognized "clades" of leopard tortoises. 5 from Northern and Central Africa and 6 from various parts of South Africa. These all show distinct morphological traits that are consistent throughout the region of each clade, but they are still all considered the same species, with no subspecies recognized anymore. Some of these clades live in the mountains and in Southern areas that get cold in winter. I worked with a guy named "Spud" on a movie shoot there in the RSA in 2005. He lived in the mountains (Sorry I can't remember which ones...) and he said the wild leopard tortoises around his house would hibernate under the snow in winter. So SOME of them do brumate, but most of them don't. The SA leopards we have in this country were imported from Durban originally in 1990, so I don't think they'd be as cold tolerance as the ones I saw running around in the cold and wind with the baboons at the nature center on the Cape. My friends at @Rodriguez Chelonians also have SA leopards from the same genetic lines as mine, and they let theirs get much cooler in the winter than I do, with no ill effect. In fact, they get much better hatch rates than I do, and I suspect that might be why.
The "regular" leopard tortoises that we have in in the states are a mixture of different clades from all over the range, including the SA ones, and none of them brumate. They get sick if you let them get too consistently cold in winter here. Regular leopards can lay anytime depending on a number of factors, and their eggs can be incubated immediately. They generally take about 110 days to incubate depending on temperature and genetics.
Do leopards hatch at a specific time of year? Yes, some of them do, and no, some of them don't.
Do leopards hibernate? Yes, some of them do brumate in the wild in Africa, and no, some of them do not brumate in other parts of Africa. None of them brumate here in the USA.
I hope this helps clarify some things. Questions welcome.
TheLastGreen
Well-Known Member
Thanks Tom, it helped a lot! I think it may be excitement that I want to know when they will hatch.
So it sounds like it is much more random, to circumstances? (When it comes to temps, breeding etc) Our Autumn starts in April and Winter ends in August, so if I understand correctly, breeding and laying of eggs could have been somewhere in that time, and they will after succesful gestation hatch beginning August and onward after about 4 months?
So it sounds like it is much more random, to circumstances? (When it comes to temps, breeding etc) Our Autumn starts in April and Winter ends in August, so if I understand correctly, breeding and laying of eggs could have been somewhere in that time, and they will after succesful gestation hatch beginning August and onward after about 4 months?
