Phae's a mama!!

[wellington]

Being curious, I looked up what might cause mold on incubating eggs. Didn't really find that answer, except too high of humidity. What I did find, from a snake forum was a couple solutions people have used with success. Have you ever tried anything besides wiping them off? Which they said would spread the mold? Here is what they mentioned. (Dabbing with listerine on a cotton tip) and (sprinkling tinea powder on the eggs). I have no idea what the powder is, thought you might. Again, these were for snake eggs. Maybe others might have heard of this or used it themselves. Be interesting to know if either would work for tort eggs.

 

[Yvonne G]

I looked up tinea powder and it's for drying, for athlete's foot, etc. It is worth a try. Thanks for doing the research for me. (If you don't keep them moist, they collapse. So you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't)

 

[Yvonne G]

Whoo-hoo!!! I guess I did something right this year:

This is what my incubator looks like right now. I opened the pip hole just enough so that the little noses were out in the air.

BUT...

I did something horribly wrong with the Russian eggs. One of our members mentioned in another thread that you can't keep the Russian eggs too moist or they crack. Well, I had 6 of them in my incubator and I kept them too moist and all of them cracked. It probably would have been ok, except I have a problem with gnats in the incubator. The gnats lay their eggs on the crack of the eggs and then maggots hatch out and eat the secretions from the cracks. So every day I was washing off the maggots. Every so often there would be a little hole in the egg and I could see maggots inside, so I would flush out the hole, but when it was clean I could see that the maggots ate the baby's eyes and probably the brain, and the baby was dead. I only have 3 cracked eggs left. Darned maggots. If you don't like to see stuff like that, don't look at this next picture. Its a little blurry, but you can see that the little Russian baby was fully formed and maybe 2 weeks away from hatching:
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[cemmons12]

So very cool! Thanks for share'n the pic's with us also! I always love seeing what I will never get to experience first hand.

 

[morloch]

Wow,,, such a rewarding experience!!!!

 

[Millerlite]

This is great! Not to many people can say that hatched these species. Always a fun time watching multiple eggs hatch

 

[harris]

Outstanding! Congratulations!!!

 

[Tom]

Awesome! So glad to see this! Woo hoo!

Sorry to hear about the russians.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Hi Yvonne,

I was at a hay and feed store and they have 'wipes' for chicken eggs to prevent mold etc. Said all organic etc. Not harmful like 'dips'.

Will

 

[Tom]

What would happen if you buried the eggs completely in long fibered sphagnum moss? This would not leave any exposed areas, kind of like a real nest, and the anti-fungal, anti-mold properties of the moss might work on the eggs if its in direct contact.

 

[Yvonne G]

I tried sphagnum moss either last year or the year before. It was too acidic. None of the eggs hatched that year.

Will: Please pick up some of that chicken egg wipe for me. And you now have 6 Manouria babies that are ready for your TLC. (Will is going to take Maggie's place in the baby rearing part of the equation)

 

[algoroth1]

So glad to see your success with Manouria! Hope it will continue long into the future.

Sent from my VS840 4G using TortForum mobile app

 

[qgm]

en,need about 66 days, can you tell me what temperature now?

 

[Yvonne G]

A little over 15 years ago I had 49 Manouria eggs in the incubator at 83F degrees. I have 4 of those tortoises from those eggs here now, and they are all male. So ever since then, whenever I've been lucky enough to get more Manouria eggs, I've tried to hatch them at a higher temperature. I haven't had much success, only hatching one here and one there, and those two aren't old enough yet to sex. So when I got all these eggs, I went back to the 83F temp and had a very successful hatch. Only time will tell on the sex, but I'll bet they're all male again.

 

[Teodora'sDAD]

The Mep female that laid the eggs, Phae, weighs about 55lbs. According to my records, she hatched in '83.

I hatched in 84.. so that would make her 30..

 

[JacksonR]

Awesome job!!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Here they are outa the shell (egg that is) and after a first meal!

Egg tooth still on the little faces.

They are from Phae and Darth. Phae is F1 from the Honolulu Zoo, Dart is WC. So these guys are F1-ish. Will

 

[tortadise]

Excellent Job yvonne. Also Will great stuff. I know you will take care of these buggers. This weekend my emys emys went through 8 bags of mulch and 6 bags of pine needles. She has made quite the nest. About a month or so more and she will lay. I hope to get results like this Yvonne with my emys emys. Emys Phayrie have to find me a male for clemmy.

 

[Yvonne G]

They are from Phae and Darth. Phae is F1 from the Honolulu Zoo, Dart is WC. So these guys are F1-ish. Will

And if I ever get my act together, the babies will be in the stud book too.

 

[thatrebecca]

Wow! So cool, Yvonne! Can't wait to see more pictures as they grow.