Turtlepete
Well-Known Member
Interested to hear what experienced breeders have to say about this, and if anyone else has encountered it as well.....
One of my rf's just started laying last year, and her clutches are now hatching. She had 3 clutches in the first year. She astonished me with having a clutch of 7 once. The eggs, as I expected, have been tiny, almost half the size of that of my seasoned breeders. They have had pretty great fertility; however, I believe some may be under-developed.
The first to hatch from a clutch, actually seemed to have a sort of neurological disorder. Walking in circles with head cocked to the side, flipped itself over constantly....I expected its demise, but it was still disappointing after it actually began eating quite strongly, and passed away 2 weeks later. After that, one died halfway out of the egg. It had its head and one leg through, but was dead. During this time, when I am expecting them to hatch, I check the incubator daily, sometimes twice a day. A couple weeks later, another hatched in a similar fashion; broke out one side of the egg, got its head and leg out, and I found it dead.
Both tortoises were externally perfect. I could find nothing wrong with them, though it was obviously an internal issue. Furthermore, here is another thing that surprised me: they almost seemed to be in a hurry. As funny as this may sound (morbid humor, eh?)....All hatchlings I have had, once they have "pipped" a little hole in the egg, typically have only partially broken out the egg, 24 hours later. These dead ones had made more progress in escaping the egg then a typical healthy tortoise, in a quarter of the time. I can't speculate why this is.
So, my thoughts are that they must be internally underdeveloped. Likely due to it being this particular female's first clutches. Could the fact that there were 7 eggs in one clutch also be a factor? My best guess is that their lungs in particular were underdeveloped. It seems they must have suffocated in the first few hours out of the egg. I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that lungs are one of the last things to develop in reptiles, so that is what led me to the conclusion. This is my only guess, otherwise it must be the failure of some other internal organ.
Any thoughts are appreciated. These tortoises hatched alongside perfectly healthy tortoises, in the same incubator, so I know it had nothing to do with the incubator/incubation conditions, etc.. I don't expect there to be anything I can do to help them, but I am curious as to what is causing it. Hoping for a better mortality rate with the next clutches; normally, any hatchlings dying has been very rare for me.
One of my rf's just started laying last year, and her clutches are now hatching. She had 3 clutches in the first year. She astonished me with having a clutch of 7 once. The eggs, as I expected, have been tiny, almost half the size of that of my seasoned breeders. They have had pretty great fertility; however, I believe some may be under-developed.
The first to hatch from a clutch, actually seemed to have a sort of neurological disorder. Walking in circles with head cocked to the side, flipped itself over constantly....I expected its demise, but it was still disappointing after it actually began eating quite strongly, and passed away 2 weeks later. After that, one died halfway out of the egg. It had its head and one leg through, but was dead. During this time, when I am expecting them to hatch, I check the incubator daily, sometimes twice a day. A couple weeks later, another hatched in a similar fashion; broke out one side of the egg, got its head and leg out, and I found it dead.
Both tortoises were externally perfect. I could find nothing wrong with them, though it was obviously an internal issue. Furthermore, here is another thing that surprised me: they almost seemed to be in a hurry. As funny as this may sound (morbid humor, eh?)....All hatchlings I have had, once they have "pipped" a little hole in the egg, typically have only partially broken out the egg, 24 hours later. These dead ones had made more progress in escaping the egg then a typical healthy tortoise, in a quarter of the time. I can't speculate why this is.
So, my thoughts are that they must be internally underdeveloped. Likely due to it being this particular female's first clutches. Could the fact that there were 7 eggs in one clutch also be a factor? My best guess is that their lungs in particular were underdeveloped. It seems they must have suffocated in the first few hours out of the egg. I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that lungs are one of the last things to develop in reptiles, so that is what led me to the conclusion. This is my only guess, otherwise it must be the failure of some other internal organ.
Any thoughts are appreciated. These tortoises hatched alongside perfectly healthy tortoises, in the same incubator, so I know it had nothing to do with the incubator/incubation conditions, etc.. I don't expect there to be anything I can do to help them, but I am curious as to what is causing it. Hoping for a better mortality rate with the next clutches; normally, any hatchlings dying has been very rare for me.
. I would love the answer of why, biologically, this happens. What happens with the eggs/ova of an immature, or perhaps first-time breeder (this particular female was almost 11"), that causes this to happen. Is something off with them from the beginning of development that dictates they aren't going to make it? Is there something wrong that just doesn't allow them to finish development? (As I was thinking, under-developed lungs/other interal organs?)
