Nesting Behavior

[CarolM]

The nesting process that started in post #18 went on for 3 days and finally ended today with a 2 hour dig, and a 3 hour "labor". She deposited one very large egg. You can see in the attached picture the bleeding along the pressure lines as her carapace and plastron flexed to allow the egg to pass. Looks like an exhausting process!
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Poor thing. Well done though and that is a BIIIG egg. Now holding thumbs for the incubation period. Can't wait to see the prgress with this. Don't want to jinx anything so won't mention anything that might tempt fate to intervene.

 

[KevinGG]

Oh boy! The CAWG is getting its rhythm. There are going to be quite a few of these walking around this year. Hopefully, Chris’s success will be of use to you. Have you successfully hatched any in the past?

Poor female. How will you treat that?

 

[Sterant]

Oh boy! The CAWG is getting its rhythm. There are going to be quite a few of these walking around this year. Hopefully, Chris’s success will be of use to you. Have you successfully hatched any in the past?

Poor female. How will you treat that?

Thanks @KevinGG. I don't plan on treating it unless I see signs of infection. The bleeding at the scute boundaries is pretty typical from what others have told me. My other female doesn't bleed, but this larger one does.

I personally have not hatched any angulates. 2 other members of the CAWG (in addition to Chris) have. Kingsley hatched one a couple years ago and Dwight hatched one 7 years ago which is the male I currently have. Its pretty neat that when I start hatching these, they will be partial F2's. It would stand to reason that the deeper the CB lineage goes, the more likely it becomes that the animals will do well in captivity.

Lots of great activity right now - an exciting time for sure!

 

[jonathan gray]

I would be interesting to analyze the fluid that was seeping from the scute boundaries; it doesn't look like blood per se, I wonder if it could be some sort of lubricant peculiar to angulates?

 

[KevinGG]

Thanks @KevinGG. I don't plan on treating it unless I see signs of infection. The bleeding at the scute boundaries is pretty typical from what others have told me. My other female doesn't bleed, but this larger one does.

I personally have not hatched any angulates. 2 other members of the CAWG (in addition to Chris) have. Kingsley hatched one a couple years ago and Dwight hatched one 7 years ago which is the male I currently have. Its pretty neat that when I start hatching these, they will be partial F2's. It would stand to reason that the deeper the CB lineage goes, the more likely it becomes that the animals will do well in captivity.

Lots of great activity right now - an exciting time for sure!

That’s so great. Didn’t know about Dwight. Hope to raise some of these in the future. [emoji16]

 

[CarolM]

My second female is nesting right now and she has successfully mated with my male about 9 days ago. Not sure if an egg that far into development can be fertilized but we will see.

As a matter of interest have you been able to determine if this one was fertilized or not?

 

[Sterant]

So far the two females have produced 5 eggs this spring. The 1st egg was oviposited prior to that female ever mating so that one was bad (I incubated it anyway, but no good). Eggs 2 through 4 are still in the incubator. Egg #2 looks bad....the others don't look good or bad at this point, but egg #3 is approaching 2 months old with no blood vessels. Egg #4 is a little over a month and Egg #5 is only 2 weeks old so we will see.

 

[CarolM]

So far the two females have produced 5 eggs this spring. The 1st egg was oviposited prior to that female ever mating so that one was bad (I incubated it anyway, but no good). Eggs 2 through 4 are still in the incubator. Egg #2 looks bad....the others don't look good or bad at this point, but egg #3 is approaching 2 months old with no blood vessels. Egg #4 is a little over a month and Egg #5 is only 2 weeks old so we will see.

I still have the egg that I found my female had laid above the ground. It was December 17, if I remember correctly. It does not show any blood vessels either, but I have left it and am also wasting electricity on it, (maybe wasting is not the correct word but I am sure you know what I mean) I will take a photo tonight so that you can see. What I want to know is, is it time to discard it or should I just leave it until it explodes? Btw I am following the progress of your eggs with bated breath. Very interested as there is not nearly enough posts or info here on TFO for the Bowsprits.

 

[Bambam1989]

I still have the egg that I found my female had laid above the ground. It was December 17, if I remember correctly. It does not show any blood vessels either, but I have left it and am also wasting electricity on it, (maybe wasting is not the correct word but I am sure you know what I mean) I will take a photo tonight so that you can see. What I want to know is, is it time to discard it or should I just leave it until it explodes? Btw I am following the progress of your eggs with bated breath. Very interested as there is not nearly enough posts or info here on TFO for the Bowsprits.

I totally agree. I love to read about the bowsprits.

 

[Luke52]

Wow big egg to pass! Now you have a little baby tortoise!

 

[Sterant]

I still have the egg that I found my female had laid above the ground. It was December 17, if I remember correctly. It does not show any blood vessels either, but I have left it and am also wasting electricity on it, (maybe wasting is not the correct word but I am sure you know what I mean) I will take a photo tonight so that you can see. What I want to know is, is it time to discard it or should I just leave it until it explodes? Btw I am following the progress of your eggs with bated breath. Very interested as there is not nearly enough posts or info here on TFO for the Bowsprits.

I sincerely wish I had more regular news to report on. I am certainly learning a lot from my observations and will be writing an article soon about the work I am doing, but progress is like everything else with tortoises - Slooooooww ! Personally, I would stick with the egg you have until it is clearly bad, starts to smell or pops, though if it was deposited in December, I would have expected it to hatch in March or April. If you can get a good picture of it candled, that would be great.

 

[CarolM]

I sincerely wish I had more regular news to report on. I am certainly learning a lot from my observations and will be writing an article soon about the work I am doing, but progress is like everything else with tortoises - Slooooooww ! Personally, I would stick with the egg you have until it is clearly bad, starts to smell or pops, though if it was deposited in December, I would have expected it to hatch in March or April. If you can get a good picture of it candled, that would be great.

I really don't think there is anything there. But I will carry on with it anyway until there is absolutely no hope.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think you're right.

 

[Tom]

Bummer.

 

[CarolM]

Yes, that is what I thought too. Oh well. The research will carry on.

 

[Sterant]

I think you're right.

Me too. Ditto Tom's "Bummer".

 

[CarolM]

Me too. Ditto Tom's "Bummer".

Would it be a bad thing if I did an experiment of my own and tried buring a nesting tray for my female to nest in? I would bury it where she likes to normally nest and once she has laid her eggs (if I can get it right that she nests in the nesting tray), just transfer the tray to incubation. I want to test the soil acidity theory. I would obviously need to get the diapause and heating correct as well.

 

[Luke52]

I haven’t been successful breeding yet so you have better luck than me

 

[CarolM]

I haven’t been successful breeding yet so you have better luck than me

All four of mine have hatched in my garden. So I had nothing to do with it. It was all mother nature. She is much much better at it then I am. [emoji1] [emoji1]

 

[Luke52]

All four of mine have hatched in my garden. So I had nothing to do with it. It was all mother nature. She is much much better at it then I am. [emoji1] [emoji1]

Haha in Arizona the eggs would turn into an egg breakfast it’s soooooo hot