"Maybe Babies"

[Chewychips]

I'm new to the forum - let me share this story...

I grew up with box turtles, and my young daughter takes care of a captive bred four year old Florida box turtle. On April 2nd, I was driving home when I noticed a box turtle that was hit on the side of the road. Seeing box turtles in my large Florida town is a rarity (unfortunately). I've seen only two (including this one) that were roadkill in the last five years.

In any case, I pulled the car over to see if it had survived and was shocked to see how badly this poor girl had been crushed. I was even more surprised when she hissed and tried to close her shell. Upon realizing she was still alive I took her home and tried to "repair" her. Over 3/4 of her shell was smushed into half-dollar sized bits. I knew going in that there would be a low chance of survival, and unfortunately Boxie Mom passed away a couple of hours later.

While I was fixing her, I noticed that she had at least one egg that appeared to be unhurt. Before we buried her, we extracted five eggs in total. I had never thought about eggs being viable when I got her off the road, and I guess I found on this forum that there have been instances of successful hatchlings from "roadkill eggs".

I'm trying to keep my daughter's expectations in check (and honestly mine too), so we're calling these guys the "Maybe Babies". I found Mom in a relatively populated area of Orlando, so I'm not sure if there is a great chance these have been fertilized. Being close to thirty days old now, the eggs seem to be a bit bigger, and I'm not getting any smell that would indicate decomposition. I've added a picture - the eggs are kept in a room that is about eight degrees and I keep a moist paper towel on top of them.

Any advice, suggestions, or encouragement would be appreciated. Thanks! Chewy

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Good luck. Time will tell, but nice effort.
You have nothing to lose.

 

[teresaf]

Hmmm, I've never tried this but i think to hatch males they have a lower temp span and a higher span of temps for girls. Maybe backwards. both spans overlap so someone may be able to tell you the perfect midline to allow for sloppy measurements, day night lows and highs etc. The humidity should be kept higher too, i think. Just use the search bar above to search for 'incubation'. Don't get to specific or it just says 'no posts' or something similar. @Tom and @tortadise and @Yvonne G may be more help since they breed or have bred tortoises.

 

[tortadise]

Sounds good. What temperature is the room/tub at? These should hatch no problem if fertile. But chelonians can retain sperm for a number of years so chances are still in favor for hatching.

 

[Chewychips]

The room and soil temperature is at about eighty degrees (not eight). I've seen that it should be between 77 and 85 degrees (higher temps for females). The soil itself is damp but not wet. I saw also that they hatch at 60-75 days. I think temperature plays a role there too. If they are on that schedule they should be here (fingers crossed) between June 1 and June 15.

 

[teresaf]

I'll be crossing my fingers for you and little you. Keep us posted!

 

[tortadise]

The room and soil temperature is at about eighty degrees (not eight). I've seen that it should be between 77 and 85 degrees (higher temps for females). The soil itself is damp but not wet. I saw also that they hatch at 60-75 days. I think temperature plays a role there too. If they are on that schedule they should be here (fingers crossed) between June 1 and June 15.

Ah ok. I was wondering what the 8 was. Hah. Should be just perfect then. Sit back and wait. In the meantime you can set up an enclosure for when that possible hatching occurs.

 

[teresaf]

Good idea @tortadise. Keep in mind, Chewy, that baby boxes do best with different care than care for adults. Read sbout their care by searching in search box or under tortoise species above. On average most everyone here seems to pushing the high humidity high heat method for most species babies that a closed chamber gives. You can search 'closed chamber' for ideas.

 

[klack95]

I find this fascinating, please keep us posted. I wish I would have known to look for eggs with the poor creatures that have been hit. We recently buried a 3 toe box that we found on our street. No sign of obvious injuries but it was for sure gone .

 

[gingerbee]

Nice! Fingers crossed for you!!! Looking forward to June and the maybe babies.

 

[cmacusa3]

This would be amazing!

 

[Eric Zukowski]

We need to have flying cars today the amount of boxies hit by cars is huge. The eggs look good to my eyes. It's nice to know that some people still care and will go above and beyond to help the species. Thanks for sharing best luck

 

[Dean Wirth]

Good luck with the eggs, it would be amazing for them to hatch

 

[Maro2Bear]

Good luck with this. Keep us posted n fingers crossed for some babiy boxies.

 

[Chewychips]

Here is an update. We're about 45 days in and the eggs still look ok. No funky smells.

I did try "candling" one of them with a cell phone light and a dark room. I was careful not to turn the egg over. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing anything that looks like a turtle forming inside. But I'm not giving up just yet. I'll let them go for another month and we'll see where we're at..... daughter still thinks they're going to hatch. Dad hopes so but not so sure......

 

[gingerbee]

I think you'll be surprised!!! At least I hope so!!!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Fingers still crossed and hoping for the best!

 

[Dean Wirth]

Goodl luck, 60 - 90 days is the norm. Avoid candling them and try to be patient, i know its frustrating, i know of eggs that hatched after 120 days! It will be obvious if they go bad, they will cave in or bugs or fungus will appear. Again be patient, again good luck.