Successfully hatching Greeks

[atomicjade]

Hey guys, I've been searching over the internet and there has been few resources about successfully breeding and hatching Greeks in captivity. I thought it would be helpful to everyone here to start a thread for people to share their knowledge so in the future we can help each other out to produce more captive bred Greeks, since so many are wild caught and plagued with a common occurrence of parasites and sometimes illnesses. I have found nothing says anything about incubating temperatues, the correct kind of enclosure (such as... what kind of substrate is needed for a female to hatch her eggs) and then when to remove the eggs, in what manner, for how long etc. etc.


So that being said, does anyone have something to say?

 

[egyptiandan]

Hi,
There actually is a lot on the net about incubating tortoise eggs and temperatures, but here's what I have learned.
31.5C is the threshold temperature for Greek tortoises. At this temperature the sex ratio is 50/50 (male/female). Above this temperature you will get more females and below this temperature you will get more males.
28C to 33C is the temperature range that works best for hatching greek eggs. Below 26C eggs won't develop and above 33C dead in shell hatchling occur almost every time.
For hatching greek eggs you can use almost anything as a substrate for the eggs, as long as it's dry. Basicly what your doing is keeping the eggs from rolling.
Humidity in the incubator should be around 70% and a bit higher is good during hatching.
At these temperatures hatching can take from 60 to 120 days. This would depend on temperature and on subspecies.
Female tortoises don't hatch their eggs, they find a suitablely warm spot. The warm spot they find hatches their eggs.
You want a substrate that is deep enough for the size of your female. You also need it packed down and damp enough to stay together when she digs the nest. Some females like really warm nesting spots and some like spots that are a bit cooler. I give my females a choice of temperatures for nesting, from 41C to 35C at ground level under lamps.
You can remove the eggs whenever you want, but depends on the female tortoise and how she's positioned. Sometimes I'll take them as a female lays them; sometimes after she finishes, but before covering; sometimes after covering. If you get the eggs within 24 hours it doesn't matter how you take them out of the nest. The reason is that the egg hasn't started to develop and it doesn't matter if you turn them in this time. I always wash my eggs off and turn them all around while doing it.
If you've missed the eggs and you find them later, you need to keep them the side up that you've found them in. The best way to do this is to make an X, in pencil, on the tops of the eggs as you uncover them. That way you know which way the egg should be placed in the incubator, X up.

Danny

 

[atomicjade]

Thanks so much Danny that was very imformative! I did find a lot of general tortoise laying information but nothingn really Greek specific, which is why I asked.

 

[Meg90]

Ooooh. I'm gonna post this reply here, so years down the road, i can still find it in my backlogged posts!

Great info Danny