Baby and an bowsprit egg incubating.

CarolM

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The egg is in a tupperware which is in the enclosure with baby. When the egg hatches and after the egg sack is gone can the new baby go in the same enclosure as the other baby? Baby is 7mnths and 7 days old. Or must I seperate them into each their own enclosure?

Carol
 

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FWIW, I agree the difference in activity and familiarity is too much, the smaller, younger one is highly likely to be intimidated by the older bigger one. Seems especially important with such a combative species.

BTW congratulations on hatching them.
 

Tom

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Hi Carol! I agree with the others here. Tortoises should never be housed in pairs, especially an aggressive species like this one, and especially with different sized little ones. You could probably keep a small group of similarly sized ones together in a large enclosure, but not a pair.
 

Sterant

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Carole - Can you outline your incubation methods please? And congratulations on hatching them for sure !
 
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CarolM

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Carole - Can you outline your incubation methods please? And congratulations on hatching them for sure !

Hi Dan
I am embarrassed to say that I don't have any.
The 7 month old whose name is Baby hatched in my garden. I came home one day to find it there. Obviously from the tortoises that I was talking about yesterday. It was because of baby that I eventually found this group and am trying to learn the best way to look after her and the parents. As up until I joined the forum I always thought that tortoises could be left alone as long as you provided them with the food they needed and water which was always available in my garden. The second egg I had observed being laid on the 27 April before baby was found. I originally left the egg alone and was watching the nest site to see what happened. 30 days later I found baby, was very confused because there was no way that the egg had hatched in 30 days. So i dug up the nest site with a paint brush so as not to harm the egg. And the egg was there. I then made the decision to bring it inside. And put it in the enclosure where I have Baby. I put it in an egg box. Having read up on the forum as much as I could I have put the egg on toilet paper inside a container inside the enclosure with a heat lamp to keep the temperature warm and a tub with water to keep it humid. After a while I thought the egg was a dud because I couldn't see anything inside the egg. I think it was Tom who answered one of my questions about eggs and told me to wait it out. I have since seen the veins and a small dot in the egg. The last time I checked which was two weeks ago I saw what looked like a outline of a small tail. I haven't done the light test again and I am now waiting for the egg to hatch. I was and am trying to get as much info as possible on what to do when it does hatch.

I am realising that there are alot of things that I have done wrong and am trying to get them right now so that I can take care of them the right way without ignorance.

So basically my method is alot of research, reading the stories, questions and answers on the forum and trying to get it right. I am not an expert or researcher or breeder, just a mother who loves animals and didnt have the heart to let nature take its course and let Baby end up on the food chain from my garden. As I live next to a vlei which has alot of birds and a river running through it. Did not want to take the chance that either a bird or the river gets a hold of baby etc.

I will try and take a picture of the egg tonight although I am not sure if I should be doing the light test anymore as the egg at 212 days already.
 

CarolM

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Wow! I am GREEN with envy:eek:.
Thank you. But quite frankly I am so grateful to be able to get all this expert advice from this forum and at the same time also quite appalled at my ignorance before the forum . The internet although giving you information does not give you the experience that is found here.
 

CarolM

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Hi Dan
I am embarrassed to say that I don't have any.
The 7 month old whose name is Baby hatched in my garden. I came home one day to find it there. Obviously from the tortoises that I was talking about yesterday. It was because of baby that I eventually found this group and am trying to learn the best way to look after her and the parents. As up until I joined the forum I always thought that tortoises could be left alone as long as you provided them with the food they needed and water which was always available in my garden. The second egg I had observed being laid on the 27 April before baby was found. I originally left the egg alone and was watching the nest site to see what happened. 30 days later I found baby, was very confused because there was no way that the egg had hatched in 30 days. So i dug up the nest site with a paint brush so as not to harm the egg. And the egg was there. I then made the decision to bring it inside. And put it in the enclosure where I have Baby. I put it in an egg box. Having read up on the forum as much as I could I have put the egg on toilet paper inside a container inside the enclosure with a heat lamp to keep the temperature warm and a tub with water to keep it humid. After a while I thought the egg was a dud because I couldn't see anything inside the egg. I think it was Tom who answered one of my questions about eggs and told me to wait it out. I have since seen the veins and a small dot in the egg. The last time I checked which was two weeks ago I saw what looked like a outline of a small tail. I haven't done the light test again and I am now waiting for the egg to hatch. I was and am trying to get as much info as possible on what to do when it does hatch.

I am realising that there are alot of things that I have done wrong and am trying to get them right now so that I can take care of them the right way without ignorance.

So basically my method is alot of research, reading the stories, questions and answers on the forum and trying to get it right. I am not an expert or researcher or breeder, just a mother who loves animals and didnt have the heart to let nature take its course and let Baby end up on the food chain from my garden. As I live next to a vlei which has alot of birds and a river running through it. Did not want to take the chance that either a bird or the river gets a hold of baby etc.

I will try and take a picture of the egg tonight although I am not sure if I should be doing the light test anymore as the egg at 212 days already.
This is Baby on the day that I found her. I will post a picture of her tonight of what Baby looks like today. Baby 31-05-2017.jpg Baby 31-05-2017.jpg Baby.jpg Baby.jpg
 
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Sterant

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Its so great Carol. Well, don't be embarrassed at all - if they hatched naturally in my back yard, I wouldn't worry about incubation methods either - you have the perfect method already.

I'm glad the baby is growing nicely.
 

Tom

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Thank you. But quite frankly I am so grateful to be able to get all this expert advice from this forum and at the same time also quite appalled at my ignorance before the forum . The internet although giving you information does not give you the experience that is found here.

Carol, There are many of us in this country that really love this species, but they are very uncommon here. We are thrilled and very thankful to you for sharing your pics and experience with us. Most of us would not be able to see and appreciate this species without the help of people like you. We might gain some very valuable insight from you and what is happening there in your garden, so please please please keep posting pics and info for us. You have a fan base here and we all want to learn more about bowsprits from you.
 

CarolM

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Carol, There are many of us in this country that really love this species, but they are very uncommon here. We are thrilled and very thankful to you for sharing your pics and experience with us. Most of us would not be able to see and appreciate this species without the help of people like you. We might gain some very valuable insight from you and what is happening there in your garden, so please please please keep posting pics and info for us. You have a fan base here and we all want to learn more about bowsprits from you.
Thank you Tom. I appreciate your help so far and everybody elses as well. I would be getting so much wrong if it wasn't for this forum and guys like you.
 

CarolM

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Its so great Carol. Well, don't be embarrassed at all - if they hatched naturally in my back yard, I wouldn't worry about incubation methods either - you have the perfect method already.

I'm glad the baby is growing nicely.
Thank you Dan for your kind words. I appreciate them.
 

CarolM

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Thank you Dan for your kind words. I appreciate them.
Ok the picture of the egg. What is your opinion. Is there a tortiose growing in there? And can a tortiose lay an egg and said egg will only start growing a hatchling once conditions are right? As research on the internet says the eggs take anywhere from 90 days to 200 days to incubate and this egg is already at 212 days if I count the days correctly. IMG-20171205-WA0002.jpgIMG-20171205-WA0003.jpg
 

Tom

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I can see some activity in the egg.

I just want to make sure you know that you cannot turn reptile eggs at all once development starts. Unlike bird eggs that need to be turned several times a day. My apologies if you already know this. :)
 

CarolM

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I can see some activity in the egg.

I just want to make sure you know that you cannot turn reptile eggs at all once development starts. Unlike bird eggs that need to be turned several times a day. My apologies if you already know this. :)
I marked the top of the egg with an x the day I took it inside. And the x has stayed at the top always. I did pick that up somewhere. And no I don't mind I would rather you gave me information I have already picked up than you don't give me information thinking that I already know.
 
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