Hi Darren
I am so sorry to be bugging you all the time with this....roll on all these babies emerging!
After hearing from Vivienne that the egg sack is located on the plastron and the babie would effectively be sitting on it to absorb it before emerging, it has concerned me about the babie that has been trying to emerge since Friday. Please can you give me some of your valued advice. I have picked up the baby and its plastron is clear of shell or egg sack however the shell seems attached to its back. I am also very interested about what you have said in regards to the location of the egg sack. The baby that has been trying to hatch since Friday morning actually has the shell attached to her back! From what Vivienne says as the plastron is clear and it looks like the egg sack has been absorbed I am wondering if I should just put her in the tortoise table and offer food and a bath...maybe that would help shed the shell which appears stuck to her. I am worried it is stuck on her and she will die of starvation or something in the incubator. I am really keen to know how to react. Help!!!!
I look forward to hearing from you
Nicole

Hi Nicloe, me again!!!  (I promise to go on hol this afternoon!! lol) I have answered this question on the other thread.  But Darren is the expert as is Arlene and Ali, they may have further advice for you.

Vivienne

Hi Nicole,

It does happen soemtimes:-)

Providing the egg sac has been absorped could can try and gently remove the egg from its carapace. Once you get under the edge they usually lift off quite easily, water will help.

May I ask what the humidity is in the incubator and what you are using to measure it please?

HTH
Darren

Hi Darren
Thanks for your reply. I did actually rescue the hatchling and soak off the shell. Unfortunately I think it has damaged her shell as it is sunken in at the top left side where the shell was quite firmly attached. She only weighs 9g but has drank and eaten and seems strong enough thankfully. I wonder why this has happen and am worried for the remaining eggs. The humidty is registering at between 50 and 60 with a Dial Hair Hygrometer. What do you think?
Many thanks
Nicole

Hi Nicole,

Hopefully the shell will be ok and it will straighten out.

To be honest the humidity isn't really high enough. If your hygrometer is set up ok (is it a Haar Synth hygrometer?) you need to aim for a humidity of around 70%. This will ensure the albumin in the egg doesn't dry out. Spraying the eggs lightly each day will help maintain a higher humidity.

HTH
Darren

HTH
Darren

Hi Darren, yes its a Haar Synth hygrometer. I have put in some more water to raise the humidity a bit more. Fingers crossed the others will be less problematic.
Will keep you posted, many thanks
Nicole

How's the shell looking Nicole?

Hi Darren
Shell looks a wee bit better, although quite different to the other two hatchlings whose shells are quite smooth and flatish. Julys shell is more shiney in appearance and her costal and central scutes seem sligthly depressed. Strange to explain but she is coming on great and is active and strong.
I have another egg that pipped over 48 hours ago but the break in the shell has not changed in this time and I can't detect any movement. In addition there appears to be a rather nasty smell in the incubator. Do you think it may be this egg and is it possible that an egg could pip and within that time the baby could die before emerging? I am not sure what to do. I am so sorry...you must dread seeing my name come up on this forum..but I feel like this is all a steep learning curve and I feel really responsible knowing I am learning perhaps at the expense of these tiny lives. Give me a few more clutches and I will be able to write a book LOL!!
Look forward to hearing from you Darren and any thoughts.
Nicole

Hi Nicole,

There is sometime a bit of a smell coming from the incubator, merely due to the hatching of the eggs. My last egg is hatching at the moment - so It'll give me a good opportunity to have a good clean out with F10.

Any progress with the newest hatchling.

Don't worry about the questions, you'll be an old hat at in in no time

TC
Darren

Hi Darren
Many thanks for your support...I am experiencing everything at the moment...yes definately not long before I feel like an expert haha...I say that now...until next time fo course, if we are lucky enough :o)
Unfortunately the smell was coming from the egg that had pipped. Upon investigation the poor little babe was dead in the shell and the egg sack not absorbed....a very distressing sight as you can imagine :o(
So far our of our 7 eggs we have had 4 hatch. The last two still had their 'belly button' so to speak. This was quite a surprise and I ended up making a nursery box with a small shoe box and clean kitchen roll and some leaves and putting it under the lamp as I was wary of soil/sand getting stuck and into the still open plastron. It seems to have worked and the remaining 'belly button' shrunk. Therefore I have put one onto the table today...and she loved it and has been gobbling food. The other has gone into the incubator to sleep and hopefully by morning she will be ready for the table. Meanwhile the other little one still has an indent in her shell but appears fully mobile and has found food...so far so good :o). As a Mum I know they say 'every birth is different' and it certainly appears to be the case in the tortoise world too!!! We are awaiting 2 eggs to pip but I do not feel so optimistic now. I am happy with these four little babes and am crossing my fingers that they grow into happy and healthy juveniles. Will keep you posted!
Many thanks and good luck with your last egg - how long has it been since the first one hatched? Maybe I will see something with these remaining two..fingers crossed.
Nicole

Hi Nicole,

It's been a few years:-)

There are always a few suprises around the corner. We've had a few here; twins, triplets a two-headed tortoise and one with five legs this year. The interesting thing about the twin and triplet eggs is that they just about always feed from the one yolk. I'd have expected them to be like a double yolk egg - but it's never been the case here. Unfortunately, because they usually feed from the one yolk, one often gets the lions share of the egg-sac and the other doesn't make it.

Good Luck with the remaining eggs.

TC
Darren

Hee Hee yes I can imagine with all your knowledge it has been a few years! I was wondering how long you have waited since the first egg pipping of your recent clutch for this last one to hatch. I am trying to ascertain, in general, what the average time is between the first egg pipping to the last one showing any signs of life? Would it be realistic to expect there to really be more than one week between first and last?
Thanks
Nicole

Not THAT many years:-)

It varies, you can have a whole batch hatch on the same day. The biggest gap I've had here was 3 weeks....pretty unusual though. Usually a batch tends to completely hatch within a week.

HTH
Darren

Hi Nicole,

The last egg hatched today, the first from the batch hatched 5 days ago. They're quite small babies though even though Gloria is around 3.5kgs.

TC
Darren

I had a baby hatched today, the biggest ever it weighed in at a whopping 18g and is bigger than his month old siblings. Just waiting for the last egg, the baby is sat with its head poking out.

Ali

Hi Ali
Congratulations on your big baby...what a whopper. My smallest was only 9g and the others were 12g so 18g is massive! You say he has month old sibblings....was that from the same clutch of eggs? I have two left in the incubator. The first hatched 6 days ago...I am wondering how long I should give them? Is is so lovely to see them in their shell with their head poking out being so patient...bless! Good luck with your last one.
Nicole

Hi Darren
Wow, how old is Gloria and what type of tortoise is she? So I guess the last of your clutch of eggs must have pipped within 3-4 days of the first hatching. Mmmmm I am not positive about these last two showing any signs of life. I am a bit worried at the moment as my four hatchlings have not surfaced from where they have buried themselves in the substrate since yesterday afternoon and one of them did not show herself all day yesterday either, since Wedensday. Shall I leave them and wait for them to come up independently or should I physically retrieve them? I am wondering why they have stayed submerged for so long? Do you think it is because it is too hot. My lamp is sometime 37 degrees and although they are never directly under it they don't go to the cooler end of the cage either but I am worried that they are OK or not having not seen them today. What do you think?
Nicole

Hi Nicole,

I'm not sure how old she is - she one of the pre-1984 wild-caught tortoises and I haven't very much history except she came from a friend who had her for a few years (Photo attached). She was the very last one to join our group and only because she's a bit unusual.
If they don't surface tomorrow you can always give them a bath - though it's very likely they will come out when they're ready:-)
Any luck with the eggs that haven't pipped?

i Nicole,
They are from the same mother but a different clutch. Dont give up on the eggs, i once removed an egg from the incubator as i thought it was no good it turned black on one side so i took it outnd leftn the window ledge with the intention of throwing it out. Im glad i didnt as after 4 days sat on the shelf it started to pip, the egg was 99 days old.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Ali

Hi Nicole, I was wondering how your babies are?

My three babies all hatched out the day after I went on holiday, my son made a great midwife for a twenty year old lad!!! lol.  Only thing he did wrong was to leave them in the incubator for the whole week I was away!!! He thought they would be safer by putting them in a little tub with dampened kitchen towel in the warm.  They appear to be doing ok now, and like you one of them is only 9g and he is a bit lop sided with extra scutes he zooms around like a mad thing!!

Vivienne

Hi Vivienne

Gosh that was a quick holiday!  Hope you had a great break and managed to find some sunshine!

Fabulous news to come home to three healthy hatchlings, what a relief.  I did smile about the week in the incubator....better safe than sorry :o)

In the end we managed 4 little beauties and I have posted a photo for you to see.  Unfortunately two of the eggs had formed babies that were dead in the shell and the other egg was was infertile.  It was a shame as we do not know why the other two poor things did not survive when four of them did so successfully, however I am very grateful to have these four.  Little July is still a different shape to the rest but now weighs 11.5 grams so its certainly not holding her back!

Good luck with your babies, enjoy them.

Nicole 

Congratulations Nicole - they're stunning:-)

Oh they are so cute!!! I dont think I have asked you what torts they are! My babies are Marginated torts. 

Rose laid three eggs earlier in the year, two were infertile and the other died in the shell the same as yours, it must have been so close to hatching, it was so perfectly formed.  I still have one in the incubator, I just dont have the heart at the moment to discard it.  I will have to soon though, I dont want it to explode in there!

Vivienne

Thanks Darren...arn't they absolutely wonderful.  I spend most of my spare time peeking in at them to see what they are up to.....they are very relaxing to watch!

Hi Vivienne

It is so sad when you see the baby so perfectly formed.  It really was quite a shock for us as the first one even pipped the egg and after 3-4 days of no further movement we investigated as the egg had started to smell.  The second one did not pip but the result was the same (just without the smell!!).  It just makes you wonder why it happened when the others are all so perfect.

What a shame when you get three perfect eggs and no little hatchlings, it really is quite hard to bear. Still it is good to know Rose is laying and hopefully will have many more egg filled years ahead of her.  Our Georgina is in her 50's so we are really lucky that she is seemingly fit and healthy to still be laying some perfect healthy eggs and we are enjoying them whilst she is still able.

Enjoy your little hatchlings

Nicole

Hi Nicole.

It is such a shame. It seems it is more often than not humidity related. We used to get dead-in-shell babies when we used a digital hygrometer. It used to read 70%, when the humidity was in fact around 50%. It was only realised when we got a Haar Synth hair hygrometer.

HTH
Darren

I agree, I think that is what happend with my dead in shell, someone suggested putting a damped kitchen towell over the egg and I think it drown as the air couldnt get to it.  Best thing is to just leave them well alone!

Vivienne

Hi Darren

Yes, I guess it has to probably be down to either oxygen or humidity.  We did get the required humidity of 70% with the Haar Synth hair hygometer but admittedly it was 5 weeks into the incubation, previous to this humitidy would have been around 50%.  Is it possible if this was the case we would still have the successful hatchlings that we did have?  Previously my husbands uncle (and Georginas owner for 30 years) used to incubate the eggs (103 to date before we aquired Georgina) in a seed tray propagator heated from the bottom.  He used to place the eggs in a sand substrate and added no water!!! I feel cheated as  we tried to everything so by the book and ended up losing these two.  I guess Georginas age would also not be helping at this time though.  Oh well, we live and learn and certainly next time we will have that humidity at 70% throughout.  Thanks Darren.  Roll on next summer

Nicole

Forgot to mention....they are baby Hermans.....Here are the proud parents...

Take care,

Nicole