Albino?

[Sophie1985]

Hi, so I’m looking for a bit of advice...I posted on here a few years ago because I had a twin egg....one was deformed and sadly died. I understand this is quite rare but I have had the same thing happen again! What’s even stranger is the colour of this hatchling (now seperated from its twin) Is this albino? Can it go under the basking bulb? It’s still in the incubator as it has been for a couple of days due to the conjoined complication, what do I do??? I have attached a photo of one of its sisters so you can see the colours they normally are....these are Hermanns by the way ?

 

[OkAdiza]

Wow, twins twice? I am no expert at all, but I thought albinos looked a bit different than yours pictured. It is definitely very different than the regular Hermann's hatchlings I've seen. Maybe @HermanniChris might be able to help you?

 

[Sophie1985]

Ok thank you. Yes, I’ve had so many hatchlings over the years and have never seen this before....... Do many people experience twins? Any idea why this could be happening? I’ve heard of twin eggs not hatching because one dies and infects the other but both times there has been a small little deformed one the dies soon after hatching

 

[HermanniChris]

Twins do turn up, they aren’t very common but it happens. Here’s a link to the video about how we separated the ones we hatched here:

 

[Sophie1985]

Thanks Chris, any idea on the strange coloured shell?

 

[Tom]

Its not an albino, but certainly off colored.

Sometimes you get a hatching with unusual color.

 

[Sophie1985]

Hi so I have another question for you guys, I seem to be having a really weird clutch this year...first one hatched 10 days ago who was absolutely perfect, followed by the twins, now I have this one who appears to be really fat and have to much skin, is it ok?....I have two eggs left in the incubator....thing is I’ve never had this before they normally hatch within a few days of each other and I am feeling the hatchlings move Less and less, when candleing them the egg they dont appear to be changing much. Is there anything I can or should do? My female is probably about 80 now....maybe it’s time she stopped breeding?

 

[Yvonne G]

I wouldn't stop breeding, but I would look into the temperature of the incubator. It might be that it's just a bit too hot.

 

[zovick]

Thanks Chris, any idea on the strange coloured shell?

I have observed this light coloration in Radiated and Star Tortoise babies when they have hatched early and in a week or two, they look normal.

I have a theory on the light colored shell in these early hatched babies. I believe that your tortoise hatched earlier than it normally would have because it was cramped in the egg because of the twin. The pigmentation of the shell was not developed quite as much as it is in normal hatchlings when they exit their eggs, but in a week or two, the baby will look like a normal colored offspring if it follows the pattern of ones I have seen in my experience. Has this happened yet? Or has it begun to darken at all?

 

[Sophie1985]

Hi, no it hasn’t....first egg hatched 10 days ago bang on 8 weeks which was a perfect looking tortoise followed by the twins a few days later, then obviously another born few days later with a normal colour, this is her now....