From Hawaii With Love; Long Distance Incubation

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dmmj

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good to know things are progressing nicely
 

DesertGrandma

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This is such a cool thread to read. Can't wait to get to the end. Like reading a good book. BTW, would you mind explaining "chalking"? This is all new to me.
 

Balboa

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DesertGrandma said:
This is such a cool thread to read. Can't wait to get to the end. Like reading a good book. BTW, would you mind explaining "chalking"? This is all new to me.

You're not the only one anxious to get to the end :)

Chalking is a little tough to explain, it's easier to get when you're looking at the egg. Basically the shell at the top starts to change, it becomes "whiter" in normal lighting, but looks darker while candling. Its the first sign we look for to know that things are progressing nicely.
 

Balboa

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I have someone to introduce to y'all. We first noticed a crack on Friday, and this is her progress as of this morning.

DSCN4737.jpg


I'd say it worked :)
 

Balboa

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No activity on the other 4 yet, but they look promising. Of the 6 that stayed with Paul one has hatched so far. We find it interesting that the shipping seemed to delay chalking for about a week, but we still had one each hatch at almost the same time.
 

Balboa

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So this is the taste of Hubris.

As some of you may know, our early elation at the apparent success of the experiment was followed quickly by the tragedy of defeat. I've held off on posting in the hopes of getting to the root of the problem, but have been left with only questions.

The first to hatch (Nani) had a visible birth defect, something in our inexperience we thought was a "troubled" yolk sack, was nothing of the sort, and turned out to be an occlusion, containing a portion of her internal organs. She never had a chance.

This we could have probably dealt with, but at the approximate rate of one per week from the onset of hatching we lost the hatchlings.

All but Nani started off well, eating, pooping, gaining weight. Then one at a time, they would stop eating and be dead within 24 hours.

Art was kind enough (and curious enough) to perform a necropsy on one of the hatchlings. He found no overt signs of trouble, eliminating the theory that shipping had caused birth defects. He also found no overt signs of poisoning or disease, but those cannot be ruled out without pathology.

This evening, less than 5 weeks from hatching, the very last of our leo hatchlings, the one we called Jeep (the second to hatch and my personal favorite because of his outgoing personality) died. He lasted longer after ceasing to eat than his siblings. Wednesday he had eaten extremely well.... and been his usual energetic self.... the following day he refused food and became lethargic... Today... saturday... he's gone. Tonight my daughter cried herself to sleep. We are crushed.

This is the danger of experimentation (though the experiment likely had nothing to do with this outcome). We were prepared for these tortoises not to hatch. We were not prepared for them ALL to hatch, and then not survive us and however we failed them, or whatever mysterious unseen evil (pathogen or toxin) that lies in our soils.

DSCN4777.jpg

Chow time with assorted weeds, zoomed and mazuri.

DSCN4785.jpg

Jeep doing what he did best, being a jeep. Hard to see in the pic, but that was one heck of a climb.

RIP little guys.

P.S. Despite all our heartache, we are eternally thankful to our friend Paul, for the opportunity to experience the wonder of hatching these tortoises, and all the support he gave us throughout.
 

dmmj

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Oh man that is horrible news. Sad to have such a good beginning and then to have it end in sadness. Condolences to you and your daughter.
 

Jacqui

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Oh no! I really thought Jeep was going to make it. :( It has been an interesting experience reading about and thinking about. I wish the reasoning for the deaths could have been found. I know this experience caused some tensions between you and Paul. I hope that all gets settled and you two try this one more time. *hugs to you and especially your daughter*
 

DesertGrandma

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Are you going to have any testing done to find out if there was a poisoning of some kind? Doubtful that parasites, etc. would kill them that quickly. Maybe a bad batch of something in the diet, a pesticide, or something like that.

It is important to know if you have other tortoises to protect.
 

Baoh

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Balboa, I highly appreciate the contribution you and your friends have made by sharing this information.
 
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