Flavomarginata Incubation?

[Turtlepete]

Anyone have any experience with incubating flavomarginata? Basic temps, humidity….I'm curious if I can set them up in the same incubator as my red foots. 86-ish degrees, 80-90% humidity…Or does this species need slightly cooler temps?

 

[tortadise]

I believe they require much cooler temps. @Anthony P would probably know. I've never hatched this species so I don't know. I'd assume and go with a quite moist substrate cradle of sphagnum moss and lower temps than 86. Buck that's a guess and not reliable. Hopefully Anthony will chime in or someone that has success with them.

 

[Turtlepete]

I believe they require much cooler temps. @Anthony P would probably know. I've never hatched this species so I don't know. I'd assume and go with a quite moist substrate cradle of sphagnum moss and lower temps than 86. Buck that's a guess and not reliable. Hopefully Anthony will chime in or someone that has success with them.

No eggs presently, so it's not urgent, but probable (or at least I hope so) in the near future. I contacted Ben as well. Anthony doesn't seem to be on the forums much these days, but maybe he will see it and chime in.

I think the redfoot incubator will likely be too warm. Most literature I can find seems to say low-80s. What do you think about the "egg-pot" method with these? Varying temps from low-70s to high-80s…..I've heard of temperature variation being more beneficial in semi-terrestrial. Hmm...

 

[tortadise]

No eggs presently, so it's not urgent, but probable (or at least I hope so) in the near future. I contacted Ben as well. Anthony doesn't seem to be on the forums much these days, but maybe he will see it and chime in.

I think the redfoot incubator will likely be too warm. Most literature I can find seems to say low-80s. What do you think about the "egg-pot" method with these? Varying temps from low-70s to high-80s…..I've heard of temperature variation being more beneficial in semi-terrestrial. Hmm...

I think the egg pot would be perfect. Have to keep in kind though egg pots or soil (natural artificial) incubation needs an ambient threshold that's pretty well off. I'd say a general warmth of low 80s with a night drop. Set one up then bury a T-stat in the middle and just monitor it for a couple weeks and see what temps you get. They're quite heavy to move, bt if need be can be relocated to a warmer or cooler area that suits the best temperature fluctuations,

 

[Turtlepete]

What kind of mixture do you use? A 10 gallon tank (or whatever size tank) filled with 2-3 inches of rocks and gravel in the bottom, then a mix of peat moss, sand and top soil, right?

 

[tortadise]

Yep. I'll try and find the photos or thread I did for the Manouria. It shows the layers. One thing I didn't do on the thread though is place a piece of PVC pipe in the corner so it's easier to fill the bottom with water without saturating any soil on top. So keep that in mind when setting it up.

Lemme look for it for yah.

 

[tortadise]

On page 2.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/july-4th-eggs.95676/page-2

 

[Turtlepete]

Awesome man, thanks. I wouldn't have thought about the PVC pipe. So you keep the water in the bottom, which evaporates and keeps the soil moist without saturating it. Do you use any kind of screen to separate the rock layer from the soil layer to keep it from mixing?

 

[tortadise]

Awesome man, thanks. I wouldn't have thought about the PVC pipe. So you keep the water in the bottom, which evaporates and keeps the soil moist without saturating it. Do you use any kind of screen to separate the rock layer from the soil layer to keep it from mixing?

Nope just kinda layer it flat and then start the next layer.

 

[Anthony P]

That's really cool, Kelly!!!!

I've never incubated flavos... Pete, did the paperwork that Ray Farrell sent have information about incubation, or just hatchling husbandry? I can't remember.

I have a ton of literature on flavos. If I get a chance, I might go through it for you. I swear, every issue of Radiata Magazine that I have has an article on flavos in it.

 

[Turtlepete]

Ah, genius. I never thought about consulting any of the material provided by Ray. The care sheet initially received upon the acquisition of the flavo's doesn't include any notes on incubation, but the TMG update does include a portion discussing incubation tactics. Brilliant. It mentions temp's for TSD as well, which is something I'd like to attempt. Not sure if it's best to produce all females or a mixture. The offspring would be unsuitable for being bred back to each other, since they would share the same father, so perhaps all females would be a better goal to aim for? That way, there is the opportunity to acquire males of a different bloodline in the future, if there is any desire to breed another generation.

 

[Anthony P]

I never hear back from Ray when I email, haha, but I know he is busy with work and caring for a million flavos. When I met him in person, he was wonderful.

As far as which sex to produce, I'd think that would be something Ray could/would want to tell you at some point. The goal is to send half the offspring back to the range country, luck willing. But half of those hatchlings are yours, so if you went for all females, that wouldn't be an entirely bad thing, as the TMG would only be getting a couple anyway.

 

[Turtlepete]

I never hear back from Ray when I email, haha, but I know he is busy with work and caring for a million flavos. When I met him in person, he was wonderful.

As far as which sex to produce, I'd think that would be something Ray could/would want to tell you at some point. The goal is to send half the offspring back to the range country, luck willing. But half of those hatchlings are yours, so if you went for all females, that wouldn't be an entirely bad thing, as the TMG would only be getting a couple anyway.

In the TMG update Ray asks members to aim for a 50/50 ratio, which I will do when mine reach sexual maturity. These aren't TMG animals though. The little monsters haven't grown that fast .

I am curious how long it will be til the TMG animals reach sexual maturity. My biggest is about 3.6-3.7cm's now, somewhere around 180 grams. Once I moved them to a terrestrial setup, however, growth halted. I've almost pondered moving them back to an aquatic set-up, simply due to the fact that they thrived and grew much more. Of course, accelerated growth may not always be desirable, but it didn't seem to be harming them.

 

[Anthony P]

I dealt with the same stuff. Mine slowed right down the second I switched them. My biggest is only about 130 grams and mine are a year older

Gotta love that CT slow growth, haha.

 

[Turtlepete]

Perhaps I just got some seriously fast-growing animals. The smallest of mine is still only around 110 grams, so they haven't all grown so fast. When both groups were/are being raised indoors, it's exceedingly odd to me that mine surpassed yours in growth to the extent that they have…? I can't think of any logical reason.

 

[Anthony P]

My house is cold, haha. They slept for at least 5 months without a single meal. Did yours do that?

 

[enchilada]

i consult with a chinese turtle farm owner who produce flavomarginata, based on experience, 30C/86F has the highest hatch rate . keep ventilated. if humidity is too high, will result egg crack .

 

[Turtlepete]

i consult with a chinese turtle farm owner who produce flavomarginata, based on experience, 30C/86F has the highest hatch rate . keep ventilated. if humidity is too high, will result egg crack .

Thanks. I'll definitely keep an eye on moisture. I've had this problem of eggs cracking due to moisture several times with other eggs.
Perhaps I should leave the egg container open then? Currently they are in a closed container with a few small holes in the lid...

 

[Anthony P]

How do they look?

 

[Turtlepete]

How do they look?

White. Haha. When candled, the band has thickened to cover probably about 2/3 of the egg, wrapping around. The rest of the egg looks red/pink when candled, not how it looked to begin with. I don't candle with a very bright flash light, but I don't see any veins yet. I've always been rubbish at candling though, so besides the "banding" which I know is a typical good sign, there isn't much for me to see from candling.

They just turned 3 weeks old. No idea where they should be in development by that point. Turtle incubation is quite new to me!