Tortoises from the Seychelles

[Sesel]

Understood~

Question: can eggs she is carrying also put pressure on the nerves and therefore affect the back legs?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

The large tortoises need a LOT of exercise to aid in digestion. It could very well be that your tortoise is constipated. This puts pressure on the nerves which makes it hard to move the back legs.

~ Great point, looks like your pens are always small and never anything to browse on that grows naturally. Constipation is possible, it could also be a combination of several things. Keeping them in those small pens and not providing natural browsing food choices could lead to many future problems.

 

[Sesel]

Today one male tried to bite another male whilst he was mating:

 

[Sesel]

Clearing & choosing area to dig:

Angle 1:

Angle 2:

Angle 3:

 

[Sesel]

Digging:
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Digging with right leg:
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Digging with left leg:
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Dropping first 2 eggs:
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[Sesel]

Covering:
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Total 20 eggs
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[Jemo]

concratulation Sessel,
I like this perfect documentation!
How old is the female?

 

[Sesel]

concratulation Sessel,
I like this perfect documentation!
How old is the female?

Thank you~
She is about 29 years old.

 

[Sesel]

 

[Sesel]

Burying last year's eggs deemed infertile:

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[ALDABRAMAN]

Burying last year's eggs deemed infertile:

View attachment 235536​

~ Why?

 

[Sesel]

To get rid of them~
How do you get rid of yours?

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

Thank you for all the detail!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

To get rid of them~
How do you get rid of yours?

~ Trash

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

How do you get rid of yours?

~ Here is my thoughts, if they are infertile and been in the incubators they are of no value. If by chance they have any bacteria, fungus, etc., i would rather they go to the trash and never possibly have any possible access to my healthy populations or the environment they may have access to. Now, keep in mind that we are not scientist, however we have had little issues health wise and have been following certain protocols for decades. This practice has always worked for us and seems logically just safer to our groups health.Why take any chances, just not worth it.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

@Sesel

~ Can you share how many egg layers you have and the total egg counts you average annually?

 

[Sesel]

Thank you for all the detail!

It's a pleasure. We still have a lot to learn

 

[Sesel]

~ Here is my thoughts, if they are infertile and been in the incubators they are of no value. If by chance they have any bacteria, fungus, etc., i would rather they go to the trash and never possibly have any possible access to my healthy populations or the environment they may have access to. Now, keep in mind that we are not scientist, however we have had little issues health wise and have been following certain protocols for decades. This practice has always worked for us and seems logically just safer to our groups health.Why take any chances, just not worth it.

Makes sense. Thanks for sharing~

~ Can you share how many egg layers you have and the total egg counts you average annually?

We have only 2 egg layers at the moment. We only started records last year, so it may not be an average. Last year's total egg counts were 92. So that would be an average of 46 per female. Can you share your annual average per female as they are much more mature females?

 

[Jemo]

how many hatchlings did you get from the 92 eggs?

 

[Sesel]

how many hatchlings did you get from the 92 eggs?

28. Some didn't make it past a few days/weeks/months.