# Cherryhead triplets



## cdmay

I had just one single cherryhead egg left to hatch from this past egg laying season. The other three eggs from the clutch that this egg came from had hatched a couple of weeks ago into perfectly nice little neonates. The one egg that remained was one of those that have extra blobs of calcium on it and in my experience these eggs are often not fertile, or at least don't develop.
But two days ago I was happily surprised to see that the egg had begun to hatch and in fact, the neonate inside had poked a hole right at the point where some of the extra calcium was...






This morning I checked the egg and noticed that something seemed a bit off. I could see the hatchling's head sticking out of the egg but then I could also see a foot right by the head. I've hatched a couple of tortoise eggs before and I know my tortoise anatomy pretty well so this made me worried that I might have a really deformed neonate emerging. Then I saw a head protruding from the opposite side of the egg. So I picked a bit of the shell away for a better look and found this...






Twins. I've hatched a set of twins once before but they emerged from a double egg that looked like a giant peanut. These two were jammed inside a normal egg and I worried that they may have trouble coming out by themselves. I so I picked a bit more...






They both appeared to be OK but something still seemed 'wrong' with what I was looking at. So I decided at that point to simply remove them from the egg altogether. I turned the egg over into my cupped palm and this is what spilled out into it...






_What the_...?! Triplets? And all three were alive too...











They are all joined at the same point of their yolk sac but it appears that they will separate OK. So with the help of my wife Barb we got them into some damp paper towels and placed them into a plastic bowl after which they went back into the incubator. So far, they are alive and I think they might all make it.


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## jackrat

That's too cool,Carl.


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## dmarcus

That is awesome, I have never seen that before...


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## dbsneed69

Wow.... I wonder what the odds of that are? I am totally amazed.


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## Momof4

So cool! Good luck w/ them.


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## Redstrike

Amazing!


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## Skyler Nell

That is amazing!!!  wowwie! and they are sooo cute too 
Congrats!!


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## Yvonne G

Oh for heaven's sake! Talk about more bang for your buck. Did you tell your tortoises that room in the incubator was at a premium and they needed to conserve?


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## AnthonyC

THAT IS ONE OF THE COOLEST THINGS I HAVE "EVER" SEEN! CONGRATS!!


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## N2TORTS

Carl , simply amazing .... once again you have set the standards!
My hats off to ya ... very cool to say the least , thanks for sharing that wonderful experience.

JD~


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## pochito

wow very cool! congrats and thank u for posting pics


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## Faery

Wow, that is simply amazing! I'm new to the world of torts, but I've been a biologist for years and the possibility of multiple hatchlings from the same egg never occurred to me... any idea how it could have happened? Since they're all using the same yolk I would guess that a fertilized embryo split very early in the dividing process (otherwise they'd be conjoined) but... just wow! Thanks for sharing you're miracle!


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## Candy

I loved all of the pictures you took Carl. Poor little babies all cramped together in that little egg.  Can't wait to see more pictures as they separate. Congratulations to you and your wife on your Triplets.


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## Jacqui

Wow! I hate to think what the odds are. Carl I sincerely hope you keep all three of these guys and grow them up together. I am extremely interested to see how they continue to develop and if they will look a like, ect.., What a special, unique and wondrous thing to have happen.


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## DesertGrandma

That is just amazing. I agree with Jacqui...would love to see their progress as they grow together. Will you need to do any "cutting" apart or will it just happen as the egg sack disappears?


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## Cloud 9

whoa, that's pretty neat. congrats!


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## l0velesly

Wow, how cool! I sure hope all of them make it.


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## Madkins007

I am just so amazed by this! When you have a chance, I would love to know the lengths and weights (and what your guys usually run). If this was a blog, I would check it every day to watch their progress!


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## allegraf

Larry, Moe and Curly? Very cool! Imagine if all three marble as well. What is interesting is that they are not identical, does that mean that the egg was fertilized by three different sperm? Different daddies? Neatest thing I've seen in a long time!

Allegra


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## DesertGrandma

allegraf said:


> Larry, Moe and Curly? Very cool! Imagine if all three marble as well. What is interesting is that they are not identical, does that mean that the egg was fertilized by three different sperm? Different daddies? Neatest thing I've seen in a long time!
> 
> Allegra



Yeah, I just noticed their heads are different. How can that be?? It seems like they would be identical since they are all stuck to the same yolk.


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## Geochelone_Carbonaria

Fantastic, amazing, unbelievable !

Congratulations !!!


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## Edna

Congratuations, that is totally amazing. I'll second Mark's request for weights on the little guys, after the yolk sac is gone. They must be just tiny!


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## terryo

Only you Carl.........You HAVE ro keep them.


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## RV's mom

awesome! simply awesome!!! speechless. Congrats and we're pulling for your 'trips' to survive. continues pictures always a bonus!

teri


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## Faery

While I don't know the specifics regarding tortoises I can try to address the questions about why their markings are not identical: 
They should all have the same genetic make-up (inferred from yolk sharing), however how the cells migrate within the body can be independent from the genetics. Another possibility is differences in how the colors are 'activated' - I'll have to do more research on this to get a clear picture. I'm better with mammals... That said, you would find the same thing to be true if you cloned your cat or dog: The genes would all be the same, but the markings still wouldn't be the same. An example in humans would be identical twins' fingerprints. Fingerprints are always unique to an individual. 

I could go into more detail on this but I don't want to bore everyone...!


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## HipsterTorts

How cool
Congrats! Can't wait to see pics after the yolk sac is gone


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## ALDABRAMAN

Amazing!


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## Baoh

Very cool experience.


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## Weda737

Okay, that's just too awesome. Seriously. Awesome.


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## DesertGrandma

Faery said:


> While I don't know the specifics regarding tortoises I can try to address the questions about why their markings are not identical:
> They should all have the same genetic make-up (inferred from yolk sharing), however how the cells migrate within the body can be independent from the genetics. Another possibility is differences in how the colors are 'activated' - I'll have to do more research on this to get a clear picture. I'm better with mammals... That said, you would find the same thing to be true if you cloned your cat or dog: The genes would all be the same, but the markings still wouldn't be the same. An example in humans would be identical twins' fingerprints. Fingerprints are always unique to an individual.
> 
> I could go into more detail on this but I don't want to bore everyone...!



Not boring at all. I find this very interesting. I did not know that clones would have different coloring. So these triplets are actually identical triplets.


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## pandacakes

Wow that's amazing! I can't wait to keep checking progress on these guys


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## goReptiles

All are gorgeous.


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