How long until eggs show they are fertilized?

[nightoff]

My female redfoot dug a nest yesterday afternoon. I didn't dig it up to look to see if she actually laid anything until today. I saw her digging the hole and then came back a while later and she was busy covering the hole and packing the dirt back down. (It was so cute!) Anyway, she laid two eggs, smaller than chicken eggs but bigger than I thought they would be. I don't really want to have them hatch. I don't need anymore than two tortoises and don't want to be a breeder. But I am curious to see if they are fertilized. She doesn't live with the male but I do let them wander around the backyard and graze together some on the weekends. I know they mated at least once back in July and they may have since. I have caught the male mounting her a few times but moved him away before anything happened. How long should I wait before candling them would show some development if they were fertilized? I don't have an incubator so I was planning to just leave them where they were laid. I'm in South Florida so they should be fine and she laid them in my little banana patch so they won't get bothered unless something digs them up. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The female can keep viable sperm for more than a year.
I'm in Broward county.
Leave them alone outside.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

You have to either dig them up and incubate them or leave them buried in the ground. Once they start to develop in about 24-48hrs you can't rotate them or it will kill the embryo. It would be too risky to dig them up at that point. In a couple days they'll develop a white spot on them which will spread and eventually cover the whole egg. That's called "Chalking". You should be able to candle them and see veins after about two weeks. If you leave them in the ground you won't be able to do that though you'll just have to block off the nest with something and wait and see if they hatch.

 

[nightoff]

Oh wow! If I allow them to develop and assuming they hatch....is anyone interested in adopting them?

 

[nightoff]

The female can keep viable sperm for more than a year.
I'm in Broward county.
Leave them alone outside.

I didn’t realize they can save sperm for that long exclamation. I guess that’s the end of my male and female grazing together. Thanks

 

[nightoff]

You have to either dig them up and incubate them or leave them buried in the ground. Once they start to develop in about 24-48hrs you can't rotate them or it will kill the embryo. It would be too risky to dig them up at that point. In a couple days they'll develop a white spot on them which will spread and eventually cover the whole egg. That's called "Chalking". You should be able to candle them and see veins after about two weeks. If you leave them in the ground you won't be able to do that though you'll just have to block off the nest with something and wait and see if they hatch.

I’m familiar with sea turtle nesting so I know I can’t rotate them. I guess I’ll wait a couple of weeks and then check on them carefully. I will have to make a cage to put over the nest so that if they hatch I will be able to find them. Otherwise they will just be wandering around the backyard uncontained.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I’m familiar with sea turtle nesting so I know I can’t rotate them. I guess I’ll wait a couple of weeks and then check on them carefully. I will have to make a cage to put over the nest so that if they hatch I will be able to find them. Otherwise they will just be wandering around the backyard uncontained.

I've hatched a few in a warm, humid "closed chamber" enclosure indoors and at least two more have just popped out of the ground after experiencing some pretty cold Florida temperatures. (Upper 40s)
I have a new outdoors enclosure that I have small Redfoot in.....if you have babies and they need homes.

 

[nightoff]

.

Thanks, I will keep you in mind if they hatch. In thinking about the nesting issue, my female has been digging around in my banana patch a lot recently, so I wonder if there aren’t more eggs I don’t know about.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks, I will keep you in mind if they hatch. In thinking about the nesting issue, my female has been digging around in my banana patch a lot recently, so I wonder if there aren’t more eggs I don’t know about.

Maybe.
I stopped getting nervous about eggs surviving outside when I had 2 babies show up outside.....And had only ever hatched five inside.
Nature knows what to do.

 

[nightoff]

My concern is that I live on a canal and the banana patch is in my fenced backyard. If anything hatches I may not find them before they fall in the canal or get lost somewhere. I guess I need to figure out a way to fence the banana patch or do some light digging to see if I can find any more eggs.

 

[Beasty_Artemis]

What's really neat is how cheap you can buy an incubator, or build one!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Being that your in South Florida you could probably take a small Tupperware container fill it with dirt put the eggs in there and put a lid on it with a few holes. Then just keep it outside in the shade on a patio or something. They'd probably hatch like that.

 

[nightoff]

Well my little girl has now laid three small clutches in my banana patch....that I know of. Yesterday, I noticed an egg in her hide, in her enclosure. The egg was partially caved in and packed with dirt. I carefully tried to remove the dirt and found that the membrane had been breached and there was dirt in with the embryo and yolk. Out of curiosity, I pulled back more of the membrane to see if it was fertilized. Now I know her eggs are likely all fertilized (9 between the three clutches). The little guy’s carapace was roughly an inch to an inch and a quarter. The yolk was definitely bigger than the embryo. It still had a long way to go. Today I decided I needed to remove any other eggs from her hide before they get crushed. Two were ok so I moved them to a container to hopefully develop but two others were crushed and packed with dirt. I’m sad for the little guys that didn’t make it. It didn’t dawn on me that she would lay eggs in her hide but why not, there’s soft dirt in there? I guess there’s no real point to my post, other than just to share my sadness at the loss of three eggs and my hope that the remaining two eggs eventually hatch. Thanks.

 

[Sa Ga]

I've hatched a few in a warm, humid "closed chamber" enclosure indoors and at least two more have just popped out of the ground after experiencing some pretty cold Florida temperatures. (Upper 40s)
I have a new outdoors enclosure that I have small Redfoot in.....if you have babies and they need homes.

You're the best, Zero!