Such A Creature Of Habit!

Yvonne G

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Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
This is Tortellini. She actually belongs to "Mary", who used to be a reptile keeper at the Chaffee zoo. Mary retired and moved away to a city north of here about an hour's drive up the highway. She moved into an apartment and asked if I would care for Tortellini.

Leopard babcock 5-28-13.jpg

Leopard, Mary's 10-15-11 a.jpg

On September 18th Tortellini dug a nest and deposited eggs, 6 of which I left in the ground. Then 30 days later, on October 17th, she dug another nest, right next to the first nest. Thank goodness Will (my tortoise partner) had protected the original nest with a bucket and cinderblocks.

leopard nest 10-17-19.jpg

Will doesn't live near here, and wasn't expected to come again until towards the end of December, and I'm not handy enough with the Skil saw to cut the bottom off a bucket, so in order to protect this nest I just set the poop scoop on top of it (I had left 6 eggs in the nest). Good thing I did, because tonight when I went out to make sure everyone had gone into their houses I found her digging another nest, right next to the first two. It's cold, around 50F, and she was moving pretty slowly, so I set up a brooder light over her:

leopard nest 11-16-19 a.jpg leopard nest 11-16-19 b.jpg

This corner of their yard is VERY dry. The sprinklers don't reach here. So you can see how much pee she produced in order to make the digging easier. That big smoosh next to her is wet mud.

So, 9/18, 10/17 and now 11/16. I hope I'm not going to be seeing 12/15 - three a year is quite enough, thank you very much!!
 
Last edited:

Maro2Bear

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 29, 2014
Messages
14,712
Location (City and/or State)
Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
This is Tortellini. She actually belongs to "Mary", who used to be a reptile keeper at the Chaffee zoo. Mary retired and moved away to a city north of here about an hour's drive up the highway. She moved into an apartment and asked if I would care for Tortellini.

View attachment 282972

View attachment 282976

On September 18th Tortellini dug a nest and deposited eggs, 6 of which I left in the ground. Then 30 days later, on October 17th, she dug another nest, right next to the first nest. Thank goodness Will (my tortoise partner) had protected the original nest with a bucket and cinderblocks.

View attachment 282973

Will doesn't live near here, and wasn't expected to come again until towards the end of December, and I'm not handy enough with the Skil saw to cut the bottom off a bucket, so in order to protect this nest I just set the poop scoop on top of it (I had left 6 eggs in the nest). Good thing I did, because tonight when I went out to make sure everyone had gone into their houses I found her digging another nest, right next to the first two. It's cold, around 50F, and she was moving pretty slowly, so I set up a brooder light over her:

View attachment 282974 View attachment 282975

This corner of their yard is VERY dry. The sprinklers don't reach here. So you can see how much pee she produced in order to make the digging easier. That big smoosh next to her is wet mud.

So, 9/18, 10/17 and now 11/16. I hope I'm not going to be seeing 12/15 - three a year is quite enough, thank you very much!!


Wow, very cool. Can see one of those golf ball eggs right there. Nice work! Must be a good spot.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Her eggs aren't very big, more like ping pong balls, but she's quite prolific - 21 in September, 17 in October and 19 tonight. I recently added another male to my babcock group. He was a rescue, quite stunted in growth, but perfect in shape. And he's similar to a Russian or Hermanns when it comes to being in breeding mode. I've had good luck with only one male, sometimes 100% hatch, but never less than 95%. My other female has three clutches a year also, but hers are in the spring.
 

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