Manouria - The continuing Asian saga

[Yvonne G]

So, you may remember from the beginning of this saga, that Medea, the 65lbs Manouria emys phayreii, nested and deposited 40 eggs. I had scratched off the top layer of the nest until I could dig down to the eggs, and I tossed about half of the hay, leaving the rest of it in there because they seemed to like laying on it.

This morning as I climbed over the fence to feed them, I heard a funny sound, sorta' like a cat fight, only really quiet. The only creature within sight was Phae, a young female 50lb'er, who was on top of the pile of hay in the sheltered area. I stood there and watched her for a minute or two to see if she made the sound, but she came off the pile towards me. Thinking she wanted to eat, I went ahead and put the food down. She went over to the food, then went back to the hay. I didn't think anything more about it. That was about 9am. So now, about 3 hours later, I'm out there working around cleaning up, raking, etc and I keep hearing this cat-fighing-sound. I stood there and watched Phae and every so often she made that sound. Her fanny is down inside the hay, so I couldn't tell for sure, but I THINK she's laying eggs!!!!!

To be continued...

 

[Jacqui]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Oh wow! I am so excited for you! What a way to start out your week!

 

[Itort]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Yvonne, I believe you've got a breeding colony there. Congrats. Manouria's rule.Bye the way we had a 60' tree blow down in the backyard last nite, you're welcome to all the slash you want free , you pay shipping. LOL

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Yvonne, I believe you've got a breeding colony there. Congrats. Manouria's rule.Bye the way we had a 60' tree blow down in the backyard last nite, you're welcome to all the slash you want free , you pay shipping. LOL

Lol! Thanks! I won't be able to get pictures of the eggs "in situ" because I'll have to reach under her and grab them out before she's through guarding the nest (because of the heat the decaying hay makes).

The only trees that ever blow down here are eucalyptus. I put branches in the bird flight to chase away little creepy crawlies, but I think it would be too pungent for a tortoise nest. Eventually, I'll have a "forest floor" with the Rose of Sharon leaves that drop, but it takes quite a few years to build up enough for them to scrape into a nest.

It's interesting to note that Medea's whole body was totally buried in the hay when she was laying her eggs, while Phay has excavated a small indentation and only has her back end down in the hole. But breeding-wise, she's still a baby. She hasn't ever made a nest of her own, and has dribbled eggs out every spring for the past three or four years. Looks like I've got to get out another incubator.

Yvonne

 

[Itort]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Yvonne, will willows grow well in their enclosure and did you mention you had mulberries ? What type of hardwoods grow in your area?

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Very awesome! Any special trick to incubating the eggs? Is this your first batch of eggs from this species?


Are they laying the eggs in the hay? Or digging down past the hay?

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Yvonne, will willows grow well in their enclosure and did you mention you had mulberries ? What type of hardwoods grow in your area?

I had a couple weeping willows near my pond, but the tree debris caused too much trouble with the pond water and depth so I cut them down. My problem is that by the time the tortoises are ready to build nests, all the leaves from last fall have disappeared. I saved all the mullberry tree leaves this past fall in big garbage toters, and dumped them all on the ground for the tortoises around the end of April. But the leaves were so crisp that they just disintegrated to nothing. Now that the girls have settled in and decided they are going to be nest-builders, I'll have to come up with something by June of next year!

Yvonne

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Very awesome! Any special trick to incubating the eggs? Is this your first batch of eggs from this species?


Are they laying the eggs in the hay? Or digging down past the hay?

You incubate them pretty much like box turtle eggs. They have to be kept moist, and to do that I put a layer of moss over them. I hatched out 19 babies about 10 years ago, but then I moved to a new place and it has taken the tortoises that long to settle in again.

First they build this terrific mound, using forest floor debris. The usual mound is around 3' tall with a base circumference of around 6'. When they have it tall enough to suit them, they dig down into the center of the mound. Medea's eggs were not quite all the way down to the floor (dirt), but she was totally covered in the mound as she deposited the eggs. This morning's nesting is a little different. She has scraped out an indentation and is depositing the eggs with only her back end in the hole. Then she scrapes the hay over the eggs and starts to pile up the substrate to make a mound again. I started to reach in behind her and take out the eggs, but it was too hard to avoid her back legs as she's scraping cover over the eggs. For now, the eggs feel cool and the hay is not moist, so maybe I won't have the heat problem I had with the first batch.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Congratulations Yvonne. I'm looking forward to seeing the hatchlings. If they are fertile about when will they hatch?

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

That is an awesome and amazing report. Finnaly after 10 years they laid eggs agin. I am very happy to hear about that!

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Congratulations Yvonne. I'm looking forward to seeing the hatchlings. If they are fertile about when will they hatch?

Its appx. 3 months. maybe 4. The last time I was in the middle of moving from one house to another, and set up the incubator in my new house in July. I totally forgot about it for a couple months as I was painting and re-modeling the house. Then one day in September I hit myself on the forehead (not because I coulda' had a v-8, but because I remembered the incubator). When I looked in the incubator, which by this time was completely DRY!!! there were millions of teeny, tiny red ants swarming over the eggs. Several of the eggs had pin holes with ants inside. I flushed all the ants out of the holes, re-set the incubator and moistened all the substrate and in October, 19 of the 40 some-odd eggs hatched out. You could see the outer layer of keratin was eaten away by ants, but the babies were fine, none the worse for wear. Thank goodness I found them when I did, or all would have been lost. The eggs that didn't hatch were clear (not fertile).

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

I just came in from gathering up Phae's eggs. She started laying them before 9am, was still at it around noon, and now, at 4pm, she's off the nest and gathering up more substrate to add to the mound. While she had her back to me, pulling and scraping up the substrate, I reached down into the hay and came up with 35 eggs!

Yvonne

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

whats up with the ones that look beat up? Are they still soft? Will the dents pop out?

 

[Josh]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

holy smokes, yvonne! almost 3 dozen eggs! congrats!

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

whats up with the ones that look beat up? Are they still soft? Will the dents pop out?

Almost all Manouria eggs have a small dent in them. As the tort grows the dent pops out. But if you don't keep them moist enough, the dent gets bigger and the eggs collapse in. You might think that the eggs are hard like chicken eggs, but they aren't. They are pretty soft and easy to crush. The ones in the picture that look pretty bad probably won't hatch.

Yvonne

 

[Jacqui]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

Already imagining Yvonne's home in a few months when all these guys start hatching out.

Just so hard to really imagine them having that many eggs at one time.

I never knew anything about these guys until you started on these threads. Now they have really captured my interest, with their uniqueness. Each post is such a learning experience. Thank you very much for all the sharing and teaching your doing.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

I never knew anything about these guys until you started on these threads. Now they have really captured my interest, with their uniqueness.

Just remember that in 4 months when I'm trying to sell them!!!

Yvonne

 

[Jacqui]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

I never knew anything about these guys until you started on these threads. Now they have really captured my interest, with their uniqueness.

Just remember that in 4 months when I'm trying to sell them!!!

Yvonne

Hey go ahead and put me on the waiting list. I'll just tell Jeff I know what I want for a belated birthday gift. Then I will just have to sell my kids to pay for them. Ummm does anybody want to buy some gently used kids? Hmmm guess that won't work. Let's see, if I quit buying us food now, take that money and times it by four months...hey this might work!

 

[jasso2]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

hey yvonne congrats! wish ill see my russian lay one day. but i would like some burmeses. how much do they run for?

 

[Jacqui]

RE: Manouria - The continuing Burmese saga

. how much do they run for?

I bet they will run for any amount of food they see you bringing them.




Sorry sorry I have just been in a really silly way lately. :shy: