Leotheturtle

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Dec 10, 2020
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2
Location (City and/or State)
Texas
So my tortoise egg popped yesterday out of no were when my mom was fixing out the water. We switched out the heat lamp but I don't know if the same thing can happen to the others. the egg that popped was kinda submerged in the dirt but to the point where half of the egg was sticking out. I am very new to the breeding community and my female Russian tortoise got pregnant twice over the span of 8 months from my male testudo tortoise which all eggs were fertile but the batch before didn't make it. This clutch I really want it to survive but I don't know if they will and they will pop like the other one. I don't have an incubator but created one by myself with a small fish tank organic dirt water and a cup of water and we spray the terrarium/fish tank with water in the morning and night every day. Please help me figure out if the others will survive. Please don't get angered at me due to my situation!
Aw omg i hope that you find the correct things to help them!
 

Neon_xero

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Dec 14, 2020
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El Paso
I usually use vermiculite. I've also used sphagnum peat moss (the dirt-like kind, not the long fibered kind) and coco coir. I've also used the native dirt where they were laid.

I want to try using the SIMS method with no substrate, but haven't done that yet.

Just know that whatever media they are in will be eaten. I remove my hatchlings from the media and the incubators the moment they get out of their egg. After 7-10 days, they all poop out little flecks of vermiculite with their first bowel movements. This happens with or without a yolk sac.
Ok thank you!
 

Salspi

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Feb 1, 2017
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I found this video very interesting. So he's incubating snakes. doesnt have the perlite issue like torts do. So, gotta come up with a diff substrate or a way to keep the eggs from rolling while using no substrate,like in a SIMS incubator.

 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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I found this video very interesting. So he's incubating snakes. doesnt have the perlite issue like torts do. So, gotta come up with a diff substrate or a way to keep the eggs from rolling while using no substrate,like in a SIMS incubator.

I love this. I did something similar back in the old days and helped hatch a bunch of black throat monitors this way.
 

Salspi

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Chicago
I love this. I did something similar back in the old days and helped hatch a bunch of black throat monitors this way.
I thought it was pretty cool too. Hes gotta have absolutely stable parameters in there.
 

Danimal

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Nov 6, 2013
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MS
Tom mentioned the SIMS method. I used the SIMS method successfully for a few years breeding crestie morphs. Small jellybean sized eggs, anyway, you don't have to worry about substrate if there isn't any. :) You'll still need an incubator though.

Also, before someone goes out and spends a bunch of money on an incubator, I've made them out of Ice coolers, soda fridges (the kinds next to the checkout) and full sized, freezer on top, refrigerators. It's super simple even for the non DIYer. Just be patient with the learning curve and do your homework.

ps. craigslist is your friend.
 

nightoff

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I don’t know where you live but here in South Florida, I have found it easiest to leave the eggs where they are laid, if they’re in a safe area, and I put a round wire cage around the eggs so that when the tortoises hatch they come up and end up corralled in the little wire cage. That way they are in their natural environment that the tortoise has decided is suitable. That I know of, all but one of the eggs hatched and the one that didn’t hatch, I don’t know if it was fertile.
 
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