Leopard tortoise Incubation

[Lady_Luck]

Can someone please give me advice on how to incubate leopard tortoise eggs. Thought I knew what I was doing but now I'm loosing eggs fast. I have 9 eggs but only 2 left that haven't prematurely cracked...I dont see any veins in the eggs but there was a dark spot at the bottom of the eggs? What Am I doing wrong... I put cooked kettle water over the vermiculite to kind of kill any harmful stuff off, waited for it to cool. squeezed most of the water out by hand. Then put the eggs in halfway in the vermeculite. Incubated at 29- 30C. End of January. Now eggs are cracking one by one?

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Why not let the eggs go where they were layed

 

[zovick]

Can someone please give me advice on how to incubate leopard tortoise eggs. Thought I knew what I was doing but now I'm loosing eggs fast. I have 9 eggs but only 2 left that haven't prematurely cracked...I dont see any veins in the eggs but there was a dark spot at the bottom of the eggs? What Am I doing wrong... I put cooked kettle water over the vermiculite to kind of kill any harmful stuff off, waited for it to cool. squeezed most of the water out by hand. Then put the eggs in halfway in the vermeculite. Incubated at 29- 30C. End of January. Now eggs are cracking one by one?

Eggs splitting open is usually due to too much water in the incubation medium. I learned this the hard way myself many years ago. I started using totally dry vermiculite and just sprinkling my eggs very lightly with water twice a week and the eggs stopped cracking open. That is when I began to hatch numerous Star Tortoises (of all 3 types) and Radiated Tortoises.

 

[Tom]

Can someone please give me advice on how to incubate leopard tortoise eggs. Thought I knew what I was doing but now I'm loosing eggs fast. I have 9 eggs but only 2 left that haven't prematurely cracked...I dont see any veins in the eggs but there was a dark spot at the bottom of the eggs? What Am I doing wrong... I put cooked kettle water over the vermiculite to kind of kill any harmful stuff off, waited for it to cool. squeezed most of the water out by hand. Then put the eggs in halfway in the vermeculite. Incubated at 29- 30C. End of January. Now eggs are cracking one by one?

Here is the info you seek:

How To Incubate Eggs And Start Hatchlings

I put my eggs in a plastic shoe box with a lid on it and put the shoe box in the incubator. You can drill a couple of very small holes around the top of the container, but not on the lid. I use vermiculite as an incubation media. I mix it in a 1 : 1 ratio with water by weight for Sulcatas and...

tortoiseforum.org

As Zovick explained, your mistake appears to be too much water. No need for cooked kettle water. The mother tortoise lay the eggs in the dirt. It's not sterile. They also empty their bladder to wet the earth where they are digging, and they frequently leave poop in the nest so the babies can eat it and introduce the gut flora and fauna they will need.

You have to weigh your vermiculite and water. 1 to 1 by weight. So 300 grams of vermiculite to 300 grams of water, for example. Squeezing out excess water seems like it would leave it way too wet.

 

[Lady_Luck]

What are the signs if it's too dry?