Time to introduce myself

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
Well- after the events of last night- I figured it was time to finally start my own thread and introduce myself. My name is Wade and I live in the lovely hot and humid state of Georgia. Last night at about 7:30 I noticed that my female leopard tortoise was acting funny. So I go outside (I had seen the funny behavior from my window) to check on her. And to my surprise it looks like she is starting to try and dig a nest. I’ve had this female leopard for several years- she started to lay eggs about 4 or 5 years ago, but this is the earliest I have ever seen her nesting. By about 9pm she had the nest chamber looking pretty good. By 9:30 I can see at least 7 eggs, and she is covering. She hadn’t really finished the job to her satisfaction by my bed time- so I left it overnight. This morning I was able to collect 8 eggs. Interestingly- there were also two old eggs in the same area. I had seen some egg shells the night before in the soil she had excavated and I thought that was weird. Well, apparently she must have laid eggs there last year and I missed it- so they were never collected and incubated. So T minus 120(ish) days until more baby turtles!!

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One of the boys checking things out.

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Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
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Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi, and welcome! What a nice surprise.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
We finally get an introduction and no mention of the falconry and all the other cool stuff???

Ok. I guess the tortoise eggs are cool too, but man… :)

Since this is your introduction thread, I would like to officially tell you hello and welcome!
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
Thanks :). I was planning to put the birds in another thread. I guess I will just have to do that now won’t I...
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
I am also a student and male- just not from Chicago. Its way to cold there!
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
Night before last I found her laying her second clutch. She laid another eight eggs. All of the tortoises have been inside now for winter for several weeks. I’ve noticed over the years, that when they are inside, they do a lot more pacing around “looking” for a good spot to lay. This is probably because I cannot make the entire indoor enclosure suitable for laying, I just have one small area for laying. When I find her trying to dig, and getting nowhere, I gently pick her up and move her to the laying area. Eventually, when the urge to nest is strong enough, she will just keep doing the digging motions even after I have moved her. With smaller tortoises (namely my pancake tortoises) when I start to see nesting behavior I just move them into a large tub with soil for nesting and leave them overnight. But for the larger leopard tortoise I have not done that. I’m curious, what is everyone’s set up for egg laying during the winter?- for those of you that have to house them inside during nesting.

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Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Mine are outside 24/7/365, with a heated shed. We usually have sun most winter days, but if the nesting process continues on past sun and it's starting to get cold, I position a wire chair over the tortoise and set up a red light that shines down on her. If the eggs have been laid and she'd still covering, I just pick her up and place her in the shed.
 

wccmog10

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
209
Location (City and/or State)
Georgia
One day they will have a nightbox with access on the sunny days situation, which will increase the amount of time they get outside, but with my current set up I have to take them to an actual building. Taking them in and out everyday is just not practical- forgetting them outside one night, or having a sudden change in weather while I’m away at work are my major concerns. I will definitely have to remember the “wire chair” thing though. I like that idea.
 
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