# Angulate Tortoise Egg



## Tarryn (May 1, 2019)

Hi, I have an angulate bowsprit tortoise egg that is 2 months old. I'm not sure how long the egg will take to hatch, and checked it today by candling it to find that about a 3rd of the egg inside was light yellow at the bottom, and the rest was clear. I did not see any blood vessels . Im trying to figure out if the egg could be fertile and developing? This is my first tortoise egg, I appreciate any advice or information you may have


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## Gillian M (May 1, 2019)

Welcome to the forum, @Tarryn .

Sorry - can't help you, I'm no expert. But we can tag 
@Yvonne G 
@Tom 
your help would be appreciated here. Thank you.


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## Tom (May 1, 2019)

Tarryn said:


> Hi, I have an angulate bowsprit tortoise egg that is 2 months old. I'm not sure how long the egg will take to hatch, and checked it today by candling it to find that about a 3rd of the egg inside was light yellow at the bottom, and the rest was clear. I did not see any blood vessels . Im trying to figure out if the egg could be fertile and developing? This is my first tortoise egg, I appreciate any advice or information you may have



Hi Tarryn. Welcome.

Have you had the egg in an incubator or out at room temp?

I did a film in CapeTown in 2005 and my dog did an attack stunt on a wonderful lady named Tarryn and knocked her out a second story window. On purpose... How funny would that be if it was you?


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## Tarryn (May 1, 2019)

Tom said:


> Hi Tarryn. Welcome.
> 
> Have you had the egg in an incubator or out at room temp?
> 
> I did a film in CapeTown in 2005 and my dog did an attack stunt on a wonderful lady named Tarryn and knocked her out a second story window. On purpose... How funny would that be if it was you?


Hi Tom

 Not so funny for Tarryn, lol. 

I was advised by an expert here in Port Elizabeth to leave the egg at room temperature .Is that fine? We don't experience harsh weather conditions here in SA.


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## Tom (May 1, 2019)

Tarryn said:


> Hi Tom
> 
> Not so funny for Tarryn, lol.
> 
> I was advised by an expert here in Port Elizabeth to leave the egg at room temperature .Is that fine? We don't experience harsh weather conditions here in SA.


This is a big mystery. We've recently formed a group here trying to figure out all the details of this species. They do so well and are so common in the RSA, but survival rates elsewhere in the world are dismal. We are trying to figure out why and what is happening. Several theories have been suggested. One thing that is known is that due to your temperate climate, the eggs must undergo a diapause (cooling period) before they can develop and hatch. Dan @Sterant has been researching this topic for months now, and he's found evidence that the diapause can occur while the egg is still inside the brumating female, and the egg can sometimes begin to develop right after the female lays it in these cases. I don't think room temp will be enough for the egg to develop given that you are heading into winter, and most of the homes in SA while I was there don't have central heating.

Hopefully Dan, who recently hatched his first Chersina egg, will chime in with more specific advice for you. In the mean time, we'd love to see any Chersina pics that you want to share.


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## Sterant (May 2, 2019)

Tarryn said:


> Hi, I have an angulate bowsprit tortoise egg that is 2 months old. I'm not sure how long the egg will take to hatch, and checked it today by candling it to find that about a 3rd of the egg inside was light yellow at the bottom, and the rest was clear. I did not see any blood vessels . Im trying to figure out if the egg could be fertile and developing? This is my first tortoise egg, I appreciate any advice or information you may have


Hi there. I am running into a few meetings for a while and can respond more fully later, but for now check out my post about the process I used to incubate my last egg:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/successful-hatching-of-c-angulata-sterantino-cawg.174469/


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## Tarryn (May 2, 2019)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! I will go through this info carefully


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