Hi there,

I am a new member.  We have aquired our breeding pair of 60 year old tortoises (Georgina and Casanova) from an ailing Aunt and Uncle in late summer of 2007.  After the Aunt and Uncle successfully hatched 103 babies we had decided that their move must have been too stressful and had given up any hopes of seeing any babies.  Alas I have to share my excitement as after lots of 'googling' different information sources I believe Georgina to be gravid.  After observing lots of leg wiggling (which was new to me) and sratching about I came home from work today to find a deep test nest site.  I am very excited at the thought that I may soon find a clutch of Georginas eggs and just had to share this news.  I am testing an old incubator that the Uncle made but it is not filling me with much reassurance, I think I may have to try and buy an incubator tomorrow just in case...can anyone recommend good ready made buys? Thanks and will keep you posted, Nicole

Hi Nicole,

Welcome to the TPG and many congratulations on the eggs! This must be so exciting for you, and Georgina and Casanova (I guess he's living up to his name)sound like lovely tortoises. What species are they? I've never bred tortoises myself, but we have lots of experienced breeders here and I'm sure one of them will come up with some good suggestions for you. In the meantime, I do know it is important that you don't turn the eggs (many people put a light pencil mark on top to ensure that they stay the right way up).
If you click on The Tortoise in the left-hand column, and then on Captive Breeding, you will find articles on breeding, including one on incubators.

Good luck, and it would be lovely to see photos of your torts, and of the eggs.

Nina

Hi Georgina

I successfully use a still air hovabator for my tortoise eggs, but you can quickly make a home made incubator.  Nina has already suggested you read the incubator articles in the section of captive breeding.  Good luck - it's an eggciting time.

Helen

Sorry I meant Nichole.

Helen

Hi Nina

Thank you so much for your message and I am thrilled to report that on Friday 29th May we found Georgina digging away at the first sign of sunshine after a couple of awful days.  She started digging at 8.30am and by 10.30am had successfully covered up and flattened her next - amazing - had we not seen her in action we would never have known.  After some careful excavation work we successfully retrieved and incubated 7 beautiful eggs - no wonder she was not eating - I do not know how she managed to hold so many eggs as they were much bigger than I expected.  I must say however that for myself, husband and two daughters I am sure we will not hit upon anything much more exciting that seeing that first glimpse of the white of the eggs as we unearthed them.  We now have a very frustrating 9 week wait to see the first signs of any hatchlings.  I have posted some photos of the eggs.....amazing huh   .  I will surely keep you posted .  Love these smileys!  What a brilliant website.

Hi Helen,

Many thanks for your message and advise on the incubator.  I tried everywhere to obtain an hovibator in UK and all the suppliers were out of stock.  As luck had it a friend was returning from US on Friday and I sourced one for her to collect for me.  Even luckier the eggs were laid at 10.30am and the incubator arrived fresh of the flight at 12.30pm....phew, it was a close one.  So far I am very impressed with the accuracy of the hovabator so fingers crossed we shall have 7 successful hatchings in approximately 9 weeks from Georginas previous form-fingers crossed and will keep you posted.

Nicole

Hi again Nina

Sorry forgot to say......they are both Hermans torts.  Will send photo of the proud parents soon (hopefully).

Nicole

Hi Helen
When you use your Hovibator please can you tell me if you put any water in to provide some humidity during the incubation period? I currently have a little pot of water in with the eggs but wonder if I should be doing this so your advice would be gratefully received.
Many thanks and look forward to hearing from you.
Nicole

Hi Nicole

I do have a bowl of water in the hovabator but try to remember at hatching time to keep it away from the eggs that are pipping, as new baby tortoises are adept at climbing out of their container and into others.

Quite a lot of breeders use a hygrometer to measure the humidity levels in their incubators.

One other tip - do keep the hovabator out of direct sunshine as you will find the temperatures within it will fluctuate with the heat of the sun.

Congratulations on the eggs and don't forget to update us on their progress.  I have a baby Russian tortoise hatching today so I'm all eggcited too 

Helen

Hi Helen
Many thanks for your tips, I really appreicate your help. I do feel a bit lost with knowing what to do. I wonder if you saw my other post on the incubator section regarding the temperature I was reading and would appreicate your thoughts on that one.
Good luck with the hatching of your new Russian baby, I hope it goes well and look forward to the good news.
Many thanks
Nicole