MEE eggs 6/17/21

Cathie G

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Something I've always wondered about is if they are actually blue as hatchlings and growing ? I read they are called Russian blue ?
I'm sorry I thought you were talking about Russian tortoise eggs. Didn't you have some of those also this year? Maybe I'm mistaken.?
 

Yvonne G

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There's something wrong with the three MEE hatchlings. One still has a very large yolk, and it's been long enough it should have absorbed, one doesn't move and the third looks like he has no eyes. He's the most active of the three. He bites the air, trying to eat, he drinks the carrot water and he wanders. But it looks like I'm not going to have Manouria babies to sell this year.
 

MEEJogja

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That's a shame Yvonne, although these seemed to hatch very early. Is there no hope for the remaining eggs?
 

Yvonne G

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If I'm remembering correctly William (my tortoise partner) took the two babies to sell at a show, and I kept the one with no eyes. He is doing GREAT! He's a beauty, but every time I put food and water in there I silently wonder just what I'm going to do with him when he gets big enough to go outside.



Mee 11-21-22.jpg
Mee 11-22-22.jpg


Sometimes I THINK I can see a tiny little spot of eyeball in the space at the corner of one eye, and then other times I think I must've imagined it.
 
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Yvonne G

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My vet used to be the vet at our zoo, Sue Lynch, and last time she was here she said after he gets a little bigger she can anesthetize him to see if there are eyeballs behind the closed lids. Here he is this a.m. Occasionally I can see a little black spot that looks like an eyeball at the corner of one of his eyes:

blind Mee 6-3-23.jpg
 

Yvonne G

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My blind Mee is two years old on the 17th of this month. I wish I wasn't such a poor close-up picture taker. But OMG!!!!!! When I glanced into the Mee's vision cage he was sitting at the mouth of his hiding place and I think I saw a shiny, black thing on the side of his head where his eye was supposed to be. OMG!!!OMG!!!OMG!!!

You be the judge. Is it an eyeball?

blind Mee 6-6-23 a.jpgblind Mee 6-6-23 b.jpgblind Mee 6-6-23 c.jpgblind Mee 6-6-23 d.jpg
 

Maggie3fan

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OMGosh!!! There's something there...you oughta get a Qtip with warm water or saline and see what you might could do...
 

Maggie3fan

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There's something wrong with the three MEE hatchlings. One still has a very large yolk, and it's been long enough it should have absorbed, one doesn't move and the third looks like he has no eyes. He's the most active of the three. He bites the air, trying to eat, he drinks the carrot water and he wanders. But it looks like I'm not going to have Manouria babies to sell this year.
What's with you and no eyes? When did they hatch, is the statue alive and alert?
 

Yvonne G

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What's with you and no eyes? When did they hatch, is the statue alive and alert?
This is the only baby I've had with no eyes. He hatched two years ago on June 17th. He gets around just fine, and only recently has started destroying his habitat. I need to move him to a bigger enclosure, but I worry it will stress him out because he knows where everything is in his existing home. But if he really does have at least one eye, then being able to see might not be as stressful to move.
 

Cathie G

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I think I saw an eye when I first opened your pictures but then google changed the picture somehow. But then again I think they have a homing compass built in for North South East and West. And a season compass too. Aren't they amazing. Maybe if you can set him up like s/he's used to be being outdoors it will be fun.🤗
 

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