# How long do you leave new born in incubator?



## mike taylor

I have three little hatchlings . Do I have to leave them on damp paper towels in the incubator till the belly is completely closed ? I have my enclosure setup and ready . Using Coconut choir as substrate nice and soft .


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## G-stars

mike taylor said:


> I have three little hatchlings . Do I have to leave them on damp paper towels in the incubator till the belly is completely closed ? I have my enclosure setup and ready . Using Coconut choir as substrate nice and soft .



First of all congrats. What I do is put them in a brooder box once they start hatching. For substrate I use moist paper towels, unless they start eating that then I switch over to a towel. I don't put them on any substrate until their yolks are completely gone.


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## mike taylor

Here is its little belly . What do you think ?


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## Carol S

I leave them in the incubator for 24 to 48 hours even if the yolk sac is completely absorbed and closed up. I soak them after they are completely out of the egg and then I put them on moist paper towels. I also put a couple of small pieces of food in the container. They hide under the paper towel and stay nice and warm in the incubator. Also when an egg starts to hatch I take the egg out of the container that has the hatching material in it and place the egg on moist paper towels, making a nest to hold the egg in place. That way I do not have to worry about the hatchling ingesting any of the hatching material.


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## G-stars

mike taylor said:


> Here is its little belly . What do you think ?



Looks good to me. Some hatch with almost no yolk sac while others come out with a full one.

Also I don't like leaving them in the incubator as some will eat the incubator substrate.


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## mike taylor

I have them on damp paper towels .


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## mtdavis254817

Great job Mike


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## mtdavis254817

I read somewhere that you can make a" donut" out of a damp paper towel and position the yolk sack in the center and keep them in the incubator 24 to 48 hrs as stated above


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## Lancecham

That one is ready for the enclosure now.


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## Tom

mike taylor said:


> Here is its little belly . What do you think ?



That guy needs another week in the brooder box.


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## Tom

Here is what I do:
1. As soon as I see the first pip, I carefully add moisture to the substrate and bump humidity up.
2. As soon as the tortoise steps out of its egg shell under its own power, I remove it from the incubation box, rinse the vermiculite off, soak the baby and prepare its brooder box. In my opinion hatchlings should never be left on their incubation media because they EAT it, even when they have a big giant yolk sac hanging under them. They also drink when they still have a big yolk sac.
3. While they soak I set up a brooder box with lightly damp paper towel, their lightly rinsed egg shell and some greens. If I don't use the greens, they will eat the paper towels. I keep the brooder boxes in the incubator or a warm closed chamber.
4. Every day I soak them and change them to a new box with fresh paper towel and greens. I keep transferring over their egg shells until they are gone.
5. I don't move them to an enclosure with substrate until the yolk sac is completely absorbed and the umbilical scar closed up.

These steps give me the best results I've ever seen. Just ask Dean. The babies don't poop for about two weeks and their first poops always have little flecks of vermiculite even though I follow these steps. I can't imagine how much vermiculite they would eat if left in the chamber for days or a week. I had some hatchlings I bough from someone else die because their GI tracts were lined with the perlite incubation media that the breeder left them on while they absorbed their yolk sacs.


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## mike taylor

This is what I'm doing . I have a incubator setup with paper towels and greens . Incubator is set to 85°f paper towels are damp with fresh greens on top . Every day I soak them change paper towels and greens . So I don't need any lights on them like uvb ?


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## mike taylor

So is this right ? @Tom


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## Tom

mike taylor said:


> So is this right ? @Tom



I prefer to keep them contained in a shoe box with a lid inside the incubator, but yes, that should be fine. I keep my incubators around 90.

No need for lights or UV at this early stage.


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## mike taylor

Thanks !


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## mike taylor

This information should be pinned .Its good stuff to know .


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## Anyfoot

Tom said:


> Here is what I do:
> 1. As soon as I see the first pip, I carefully add moisture to the substrate and bump humidity up.
> 2. As soon as the tortoise steps out of its egg shell under its own power, I remove it from the incubation box, rinse the vermiculite off, soak the baby and prepare its brooder box. In my opinion hatchlings should never be left on their incubation media because they EAT it, even when they have a big giant yolk sac hanging under them. They also drink when they still have a big yolk sac.
> 3. While they soak I set up a brooder box with lightly damp paper towel, their lightly rinsed egg shell and some greens. If I don't use the greens, they will eat the paper towels. I keep the brooder boxes in the incubator or a warm closed chamber.
> 4. Every day I soak them and change them to a new box with fresh paper towel and greens. I keep transferring over their egg shells until they are gone.
> 5. I don't move them to an enclosure with substrate until the yolk sac is completely absorbed and the umbilical scar closed up.
> 
> These steps give me the best results I've ever seen. Just ask Dean. The babies don't poop for about two weeks and their first poops always have little flecks of vermiculite even though I follow these steps. I can't imagine how much vermiculite they would eat if left in the chamber for days or a week. I had some hatchlings I bough from someone else die because their GI tracts were lined with the perlite incubation media that the breeder left them on while they absorbed their yolk sacs.


Hi Tom. Because I know you are not pigeon holed to one species.. Do you or would you follow this procedure with all species of torts?


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## Tom

Yes. I do leopards the same way, and thank you for not narrowing my horizons.


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## mike taylor

@Tom can you post pictures of your brooders ? So we have visuals .


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## Tom

mike taylor said:


> @Tom can you post pictures of your brooders ? So we have visuals .



Here is all I can find. This pic is post soak and I've moved them into their fresh clean boxes. After this pic I put the lids back on the shoe boxes and put the boxes back in the incubators. I don't like to put more than 6 hatchlings to a box and I prefer 4-5 if I have the space.

Tip #6 would be to feed them all sorts of different things in their first few days and weeks. In this pic they have a tender young grape leaf and a sliver of young opuntia pad. They ate both all up by the next day. My hatchlings eat anything and everything when they go to their new homes.


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## mike taylor

Cool thanks again Tom. That's what I've been doing but I just line the bottom of the incubator with paper towels . I place the greens in the middle . They eat like little monsters . So I guess I'm on the right track.


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## gustaf

Congrats on the new hatchlings mike. THATS AWESOME


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## mike taylor

Thank you .


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## mike taylor

Here are the little ones soaking again . The second picture is the incubator with paper towels . I'm starting these guys with grass clippings , grape leaves ,elephant grass , hibiscus leaves, hibiscus flowers ,and homegrown radicchio. They are eating little monsters .


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## Tom

In the last two years since this thread, I've switched from using paper towels in my brooder boxes to alternating between large grape leaves or large broadleaf plantain leaves on the bottom.

I like this much better and don't have to worry about them nibbling on the paper towels.


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## Yvonne G

I take mine out as soon as the yolk has completely absorbed.


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## mike taylor

Cool thanks for the up date . Hopefully I will not have anymore babies out of my sulcatas. But I do want a few from my red footed tortoises.


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