I was surprised to see this happening today...
New Leopard Nest... in January?
- Thread starter nandusnandus
- Start date
Don't forget, their body clocks are tuned in to Africa. . . but then, I guess Arizona's not that different, huh?
Most species are "winter" layers.
I suppose you two are right. I don't know if we even hit 70 degrees yesterday. I was a little surprised she was up to the task without a bit more warmth. As the temps dipped down to 60 and it was getting dark, I abbreviated her nest-burying and put her back into the heated shed. This is the fourth or fifth clutch she has laid this fall/winter, with one or two clutches from another female as well. Despite that gnarly shell, she is an egg factory. (I didn't raise this gal and claim no responsibility for that shell "character.") As this is a relatively new undertaking for us, we are doing a bit of experimenting. I have left several clutches in the ground and brought several inside. Candling suggests nice development in some of the eggs from one clutch from this female. Another clutch showed no development after an incubation period, but did chalk and demonstrated no egg collapse. I don't know which female laid this clutch and currently have it refrigerated in an attempt to provide a diapause period.
The geographical area your tortoise is from isn't the kind that needs a diapause. I artificially incubate all my eggs from the leopards that look like yours (used to be referred to as 'Babcock.'
Agreed. The clutch in question is from a larger female, originally from another source. The male that came with that group was named "CC" by the previous owner based upon his "C" shaped carapacial markings as a hatchling. If one believes the 2-dot = pardalis line of thinking, it could be argued that the other female, who may have laid that other clutch, could be from a diapause-dependent region. There are plenty of gaps in my knowledge base as well as in what I know about the origin of the tortoises in my group. So, it is an "experiment" in a loose meaning of the word. Without any visible development after a period of "standard" incubation, I thought "what the heck." I have a question for you. Despite a need for diapause in "babcocki," they do actually tolerate an overwintering in-ground, right? I really Tom noting that he leaves his in the ground for just over a year before seeing hatchlings, meaning that they tolerate a diapause-like period. Perhaps, he keeps what it considered pardalis pardalis and needs to do this. Have you ever left yours in the ground?
The eggs Tom leaves in the ground are South African leopard eggs. They DO require diapause. Babcock eggs usually start to develop right away, so a cold period will kill the embryos. I had a babcock clutch that I didn't know about, hatch in January in the ground. This means they were laid in October or there abouts. It's not warm here in October. All the babies in that clutch except for one were cold and dead, still in the shell. . . the only reason I even discovered the nest was the dime-sized hole in the ground from the live baby moving around inside.
Helpful; thanks.
We started importing leopards into this country in the 60s, and banned it in 1998. During that time, leopards from all over the range were imported and mixed with leopards from anywhere else in their enormous range. I only know of one guy who kept the different locales separate and allowed no interbreeding. As a result, there is really know way to know what genetics you are dealing with and the likely hood of a "mutt" is tremendous. The exception would be if you have tortoise directly traceable to that one guy, which all the true SA leopards in this country are.
This being the case, diapause will usually increase hatch rates in all the "regular" leopards. @Neal went from 20-40% to 80-90%, if I recall his numbers correctly. While "regular" leopards might not "need" a diapause, it won't hurt them at all, and in most cases it will increase the hatch rate.
Sulcatas have no need for diapause either, but I routinely leave them in the ground for months for before digging them up and incubating. I do this so they all hatch at the same time. I do this because I prefer to deal with all the babies at once, rather than stringing it out over months with one clutch hatching just as I've moved out the last clutch. Just an example of a species not needing a diapause, but their eggs suffering no harm from it.
This is great information. I appreciate you taking the time to share.
Consistent with this comment, another, larger female keeps going through the motions of nest-digging on the large rubber mat that lines the floor of their heated shed. She gets into that trance-like state and attempts to dig and dig and empties her bladder in an effort to dampen the "dirt." The next day, she exits the shed and drinks for a half hour to replenish her bladder store. That evening, she again attempts to dig a hole in the floor of the shed, empties her bladder on the rubber mat and repeats the cycle. It is a disappointing to see her so intent upon nesting, but failing night after night.
