14 year old Cuora Flavomarginata turtle finally may have fertile eggs!

janevicki

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Hello All , I would like your help please by looking at the pictures of my Cuora Flavomarginata turtle eggs. She is 14 years old and her old Man is roughly 19 years old. (Not sure if that matters).

I found the eggs on April 22 and could only been in the dirt for a day. I then moved them into a Hova-Bator. i have the eggs in a plastic tupperware with perlite that had been moistened with water. I covered the eggs slightly with the moisted perlite. Put the plastic cover over the eggs with the temp guages with it.

The 3 guages are showing 3 different temps roughly between 82-84F and 95% humidity.

Please let me know what I should be doing and looking for.
Thanks so much.

PS I also posted the story about the c. flavos in the turtle section.
 

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janevicki

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Update: 3 more eggs found! Not sure they are fertile. I have tried to candle them no blood vessels or pinkness yet on the first group that got laid on April 22. Boudreux is hanging out with the girls and not trying to mount them. Or not while I'm there, but that never stopped him before. My Hoba-vator temperature fluctuates from 81.3 dg F to 83.4dg F is that ok? The turtles are doing great together. They are very tame. They come to me wanting me to dig out some earthworms for them. Here are some pictures. I must say waiting for eggs to hatch is not fun.
 

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Markw84

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I would bump the temps up a bit. I would do 84° - 86°. They come from an area of the lattitude of our SE US - Florida to the Carolinas. I use 86° for N American species from that area.

You won't see veins quite yet. The first good sign will be banding and chalking. You will see a white band developing around the middle of the egg normally if fertile within a week or so. It will spread over the whole egg. Bright white like someone colored it with a white chalk.

I don't like perlite for incubating. I use vermiculite with peat moss - 2/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss. Better water potential for the eggs, and also organic matter helps calcium chelation of the egg. Be sure not to expose the eggs to tap water that could have chlorine or flouride in it. Use a spring water for washing the eggs if you feel you want to when first laid, and for wetting the vermiculite/peat.
 

janevicki

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Thanks Markw84! Hope you don't mind I have some more questions. ?

Regarding these Chinese boxies (Cuora Flavomarginata) Is it ok to change the eggs out to your vermiculite/peatmoss mix now? If it's ok to change out the perlite, will do it this weekend.

Do I need to wash the eggs?

Yes I'm only using distilled water in the perlite.

I will move up temps to 84-86 dg F. The humditiy is 97-99.9% I have a usb fan blowing all the time in the hoba-vator, or should I just rig it to turn on when the heater turns on.

I'm using Hydrofarm Jump Start MTPRTC Digital Controller Germination Heat Mat Thermostat instead of relying on the Hoba-vater thermostat I was worried it would cook the eggs.

I will update again, hopefully to say there is chalking or banding on the eggs.

Thanks again Markw84, for your wisdom! ? ?
 

Markw84

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Thanks Markw84! Hope you don't mind I have some more questions. ?

Regarding these Chinese boxies (Cuora Flavomarginata) Is it ok to change the eggs out to your vermiculite/peatmoss mix now? If it's ok to change out the perlite, will do it this weekend.

Do I need to wash the eggs?

Yes I'm only using distilled water in the perlite.

I will move up temps to 84-86 dg F. The humditiy is 97-99.9% I have a usb fan blowing all the time in the hoba-vator, or should I just rig it to turn on when the heater turns on.

I'm using Hydrofarm Jump Start MTPRTC Digital Controller Germination Heat Mat Thermostat instead of relying on the Hoba-vater thermostat I was worried it would cook the eggs.

I will update again, hopefully to say there is chalking or banding on the eggs.

Thanks again Markw84, for your wisdom! ? ?

You do not need to wash the eggs. Some like to to make them look nice and makes candling easier. Sometimes the nesting leaves them quite muddy as well. There indeed may be value in leaving them unwashed, though, as the mucous covering the egg from the female as she deposits may have benefit. But I see that more evident in tortoise than aquatic eggs as tortoise eggs are hard and more brittle like chicken eggs.

You can change the substrate now, but I would wait about 6 weeks or so now. Once development begins in the egg at just a few days, they are the most fragile for the next several weeks. The biggest worry with perlite it that babies often eat a bit of the substrate as they are pipping/hatching, and perlite can cause a real issue if ingested. My other issue with perlite it that the water potential is so low, you have to be sure to really watch it doesn't dry out too much.

Good luck. I look forward to your updates.
 

janevicki

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You do not need to wash the eggs. Some like to to make them look nice and makes candling easier. Sometimes the nesting leaves them quite muddy as well. There indeed may be value in leaving them unwashed, though, as the mucous covering the egg from the female as she deposits may have benefit. But I see that more evident in tortoise than aquatic eggs as tortoise eggs are hard and more brittle like chicken eggs.

You can change the substrate now, but I would wait about 6 weeks or so now. Once development begins in the egg at just a few days, they are the most fragile for the next several weeks. The biggest worry with perlite it that babies often eat a bit of the substrate as they are pipping/hatching, and perlite can cause a real issue if ingested. My other issue with perlite it that the water potential is so low, you have to be sure to really watch it doesn't dry out too much.

Good luck. I look forward to your updates.
Thank you Mark84:)?
 

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