# A good reason to never give up on eggs.



## tortadise (Jun 30, 2013)

Clutch of leopard eggs was laid November 10th of 2012. I had figured all that were going to hatch did so. Well looked in to check on some of the other eggs being kept in that incubator. Saw this little guy out of the egg. 9 months took this guy to hatch.


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## farber2028 (Jun 30, 2013)

how far apart did he hatch from the rest of the clutch?


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## N2TORTS (Jun 30, 2013)

Allrighty then Kelly ........ can you sa LAGGGERR?

Way to hang in there ......always a fun bonus ....indeed!

JD~


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## Millerlite (Jun 30, 2013)

He missed his flight.. The point is he made it hah, congrats. Maybe he thought he was human at months


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## bigred (Jun 30, 2013)

Nice surprise, my oldest egg to pip was 208 days


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## tortadise (Jun 30, 2013)

Yeah he sure was a lagger. All the others hatched February 10th-19th. So he is almost 5 months late. I candled the rest looks like possibly 2 more could have little guys in their. Few months back they showed no signs of being fertile. But growth and wee torts are in their.


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## EchoTheLeoTort (Jun 30, 2013)

thats really cool. congrats on the little leo


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## Greg T (Jun 30, 2013)

Wow that is amazing. I have one egg right now that doesn't look or feel viable, but now I'm going to leave it in there just in case he decides to be a late arrival also.


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## tortadise (Jun 30, 2013)

For sure Greg. I candled the remaining 5 eggs and saw nothing a few weeks after the others hatched. But they were white great looking and not smelling so I figured why not leave them. Well here we are. Might be getting 3 more.


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## Millerlite (Jun 30, 2013)

Was there denting or anything or did it just stay plump for 9 months?


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## tortadise (Jun 30, 2013)

Stayed plump. Perfect white no discoloration, nothing. That's why they stayed.


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## Kameo37 (Jun 30, 2013)

Wow! That's amazing! Good instincts!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using TortForum mobile app


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## Vickie (Jun 30, 2013)

Holly Cow! Maybe you should call it Miracle OR Hope? (that is you never gave up hope)


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## skottip (Jun 30, 2013)

You can sell it as a yearling. lol


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## Vickie (Jun 30, 2013)

skottip said:


> You can sell it as a yearling. lol



LOL I think that's the youngest yearly I have ever seen!


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## JeffG (Jun 30, 2013)

That's great! I have a clutch of leopard eggs from the same time that I have been meaning to throw out, but just haven't got around to it. Maybe I'll just wait a little longer since they still look fine. Congrats on your miracle!


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## Pokeymeg (Jul 1, 2013)

That's so cool! I wonder if that tort will be developmentally delayed in any way? Or maybe now that he's hatched, he'll grow similar to his clutch mates? Keep us updated on his growth!


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## tortadise (Jul 1, 2013)

I'm curious too. Does seem a bit small. But then again the ones that hatched have 5 months of growth on them. Forget how small they are when they hatch. I'd be curious to see if its a male taking that long. Even though the temp wasn't low. Who knows. For now the little bugger is doing good.


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## kanalomele (Jul 1, 2013)

Awesome! I dont throw mine out until they explode! Makes a mess and smells terrible, but then I know for darn tootin' there is no hatchling in there!


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## Arizona Sulcata (Jul 1, 2013)

Amazing! Mine all tend to hatch right on time. My latest hatch is only 2-3 weeks late. Very cool!!


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## Vickie (Jul 1, 2013)

It just fascinates me I wonder as to why it took it so much longer then the rest. It is such a cute little dickens though!


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## wellington (Jul 1, 2013)

It would be very interesting to know why some can and will take so long. A former member just had a RF hatch at 165 days that they thought was empty. The others had already hatched a while ago. Seems to be a common thing this year.


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## tortadise (Jul 1, 2013)

Typical here too. Few weeks after the first pips they are all out or not fertile. Never dealt with lengths in this species at that long. Now pyxis, yeah had those guys take 200 to 265 days easy. But that's expected. Curious to see if the other 2 will hatch later. Time will tell.


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## diamondbp (Jul 1, 2013)

Thanks for sharing such an interesting story.

I've had a 6 weeks span on my sulcata hatchlings so far with 3 eggs left to hatch. The ones that have hatched have all done so several days to over a week apart from each other. So strange!


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## cdmay (Jul 2, 2013)

I wonder if some eggs are programmed to hatch later than the rest in their clutch? I've had eggs begin hatching at 4 months (give or take) but then others from the very same clutch sit there for an additional 3 or 4 months. The eggs are incubated the same and are right next to each other. The later hatchlings are perfectly normal even though they take up to twice as long to pip.
Maybe it's some survival strategy we simply don't understand.


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## tortadise (Jul 3, 2013)

cdmay said:


> I wonder if some eggs are programmed to hatch later than the rest in their clutch? I've had eggs begin hatching at 4 months (give or take) but then others from the very same clutch sit there for an additional 3 or 4 months. The eggs are incubated the same and are right next to each other. The later hatchlings are perfectly normal even though they take up to twice as long to pip.
> Maybe it's some survival strategy we simply don't understand.



You know. That may be a very good thought their. I know in sea turtles the eggs at the bottom hatch first to fill the hole with sand and it elevates the nest so they can all hatch and relatively be just inches under the sand to break free. I wonder what the process and placements of tortoise eggs are. Especially with leopards that are in winter season areas. If the permafrost, or frost line is lets 12" and the middle of the nest is 8", than I would imagine the temperature would vary just so slightly that the eggs on the bottom would hatch first then the ones on top later. But if the degree caused them to hatch weeks, months later. Hmmm time to start reading PDFs again.


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## Anthony P (Jul 8, 2013)

This is extremely interesting Kelly, and I'm happy you shared it with us. Keep us updated on this little guy and keep up the good work. Congratulations.


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## tortadise (Jul 8, 2013)

Well he is doing good. Couple more eggs still show growth. I might keep this one to see what sex it is. Same warm to hot temps but much longer. Wonder what sex it could be. Never had this happen with grassland. Yellow foots yeah but not leos or sullies.


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## zman7590 (Jul 8, 2013)

To be or not to be that is the question

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## RGB (Jul 9, 2013)

Fascinating!
I may approach getting rid of my infertile eggs a little differently in the future!
Thanks for sharing.
Bob


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