Incubation Experiment

Tom

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The South African leopards are notoriously difficult to hatch artificially. I've been trying different things for years with little success. New info has come to light this year, and I'm trying a bunch of different things. I'm doing different cooling regimes for breaking diapause. Different temperatures and different time frames. I'm incorporating a night drop in temperature into the incubation and a variety of other things. Trying to "crack the code".

@Sterant posted this thread recently about his unprecedented success hatching Chersina angulata babies: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-chersina-hatchling.185546/

I was instantly inspired to give it a try. Here is my little Hamburger depositing her most recent clutch:
IMG_1242.jpg

Here is the area the next day. You'd never know it if you hadn't seen it the night before:
IMG_1244.jpg

One nice thing about living in a dry area is that it makes it easy to find the damp dirt where the females have dropped their eggs:
IMG_1246.jpg

I collected her 9 eggs. 8-12 is normal. 15 is the record.
IMG_1247.jpg

I used the wet dirt from the nest area and covered them up:
IMG_1250.jpg
IMG_1252.jpg

I'm going to run them through my diapause breaking routine first, and then commence incubation and continue following Sterant's example. I'll post updates of the incubation, candling and sanding when the time comes.
 

Tom

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Is her name really hamburger? ? I love it if so!
And good luck! Can't wait to see the results
Yes. She's Hamburger because that's her shape. My other females are Crooked Scute, and V-Neck. The boys are Mr. Blue and Mr. Green. Very creative, I know. :rolleyes:
 

Ray--Opo

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The South African leopards are notoriously difficult to hatch artificially. I've been trying different things for years with little success. New info has come to light this year, and I'm trying a bunch of different things. I'm doing different cooling regimes for breaking diapause. Different temperatures and different time frames. I'm incorporating a night drop in temperature into the incubation and a variety of other things. Trying to "crack the code".

@Sterant posted this thread recently about his unprecedented success hatching Chersina angulata babies: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-chersina-hatchling.185546/

I was instantly inspired to give it a try. Here is my little Hamburger depositing her most recent clutch:
View attachment 305124

Here is the area the next day. You'd never know it if you hadn't seen it the night before:
View attachment 305125

One nice thing about living in a dry area is that it makes it easy to find the damp dirt where the females have dropped their eggs:
View attachment 305126

I collected her 9 eggs. 8-12 is normal. 15 is the record.
View attachment 305127

I used the wet dirt from the nest area and covered them up:
View attachment 305128
View attachment 305129

I'm going to run them through my diapause breaking routine first, and then commence incubation and continue following Sterant's example. I'll post updates of the incubation, candling and sanding when the time comes.
Good luck Tom!
 

saleena.lewis

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Massachusetts
The South African leopards are notoriously difficult to hatch artificially. I've been trying different things for years with little success. New info has come to light this year, and I'm trying a bunch of different things. I'm doing different cooling regimes for breaking diapause. Different temperatures and different time frames. I'm incorporating a night drop in temperature into the incubation and a variety of other things. Trying to "crack the code".

@Sterant posted this thread recently about his unprecedented success hatching Chersina angulata babies: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-chersina-hatchling.185546/

I was instantly inspired to give it a try. Here is my little Hamburger depositing her most recent clutch:
View attachment 305124

Here is the area the next day. You'd never know it if you hadn't seen it the night before:
View attachment 305125

One nice thing about living in a dry area is that it makes it easy to find the damp dirt where the females have dropped their eggs:
View attachment 305126

I collected her 9 eggs. 8-12 is normal. 15 is the record.
View attachment 305127

I used the wet dirt from the nest area and covered them up:
View attachment 305128
View attachment 305129

I'm going to run them through my diapause breaking routine first, and then commence incubation and continue following Sterant's example. I'll post updates of the incubation, candling and sanding when the time comes.
Wishing you good luck!
 

Toddrickfl1

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I had read it on Sterants thread too and I'm curious to know what is the purpose of sanding them?
 

Tom

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I had read it on Sterants thread too and I'm curious to know what is the purpose of sanding them?
It is thought that in nature some element of the soil, or the conditions, or the temperature fluctuations, or the duration, or something, causes the hard part of the shell to break down more and get thinner and more brittle. This does two things: 1. It allows more oxygen to get into the egg, and 2. it makes it easier for the baby to break out.

For whatever reason, this shell thinning sometimes isn't happening as well or as much as what we think happens in the wild, so the sanding is our way of artificially helping. Anecdotally, someone tried it for whatever reason, and it seemed to help.
 
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