# What's considered a good hatch rate?



## Huckleberry (Apr 26, 2019)

This breeding season I collected a total of 28 eggs from my 4 female Indotestudo Elongata.

Here's my hatch rate thus far:
Healthy hatchlings: 10
Slugs: 3
Perfectly formed stillborns: 11
Still incubating: 4

I'm really pleased with the 10 healthy hatchlings, but pretty sad about the 11 that didn't make it out of the egg. 

What would you consider to be a good hatch rate percentage?


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## ZEROPILOT (Apr 28, 2019)

For me, that would be a huge success. Though I never had fully formed dead animals. My rate is about 15%. But that might be because I don't always know when I have eggs. Some have been in the cold. Some have been under mud, etc.
The ones I found in my outdoors enclosure that I found, then incubated did not do well.


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## Tom (Apr 28, 2019)

This is going to vary so much by species. I frequently got 100% out of my sulcatas, and seldom less than 90%. My first year of breeding Burmese stars gave me an 80% hatch rates and 50 babies. By contrast I only artificially hatched 8 of 182 South African leopards eggs, and then had seven of them pop out of the ground from a nest I didn't even know was there. This year I'm leaving most of the eggs in the ground. They hatch best here that way. Expecting over 100 babies in late September.

I don't have the answer to your question, but I am absolutely thrilled to see your pics and know that you've hatched as many as you have. I love this species, but have zero first hand experience with them. They are one of the ones I'd like to work with in the future, but my climate is so damn dry and desiccating here. I favor species that will thrive living outdoors here as adults. I hope you continue breeding them for years and perfect the technique.

@MichaelaW has this species. Maybe she will see this and share some insight.


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## Huckleberry (Apr 30, 2019)

Tom said:


> This is going to vary so much by species. I frequently got 100% out of my sulcatas, and seldom less than 90%. My first year of breeding Burmese stars gave me an 80% hatch rates and 50 babies. By contrast I only artificially hatched 8 of 182 South African leopards eggs, and then had seven of them pop out of the ground from a nest I didn't even know was there. This year I'm leaving most of the eggs in the ground. They hatch best here that way. Expecting over 100 babies in late September.
> 
> I don't have the answer to your question, but I am absolutely thrilled to see your pics and know that you've hatched as many as you have. I love this species, but have zero first hand experience with them. They are one of the ones I'd like to work with in the future, but my climate is so damn dry and desiccating here. I favor species that will thrive living outdoors here as adults. I hope you continue breeding them for years and perfect the technique.
> 
> @MichaelaW has this species. Maybe she will see this and share some insight.



Wow, 100% would be amazing! I may have to be brave and try to leave a few clutches in the ground next year...

Thanks for the encouragement!


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## tortoiseluv4 (May 16, 2019)

Advise please. I’m new to this site. I just got a female about a week ago who has already had 3 clutches. Her last clutch was mid April. ( she has not had any with me yet) it’s cold out so I’m afraid she won’t lay another clutch. Is there any way to bring her In and maybe the heat lamp with a big box of dirt will help. I’m sorry if my wording is not correct. She is very healthy. I read online something about putting her in a box for an hour at a certain temperature will assist her in laying if she is ready. I thought I would ask y’all since you are more experienced.


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