So I was messing around in my huge adult sulcata pen yesterday afternoon when something caught my eye.
Mind you, this pen is 7000 square feet has a 200+' long run on one end and wraps around four sides of a building. It has lots of nooks and crannies, a pasture section, puddles, a water source, a big hillside, a big raised night house, shade tables, a big adult burrow that is at least 17' long/deep, logs, rocks, gopher holes, etc... Here are some pics if you haven't seen it:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Enclosure-Expansion#axzz26BIMls8P
Its much greener down there now and all those pens are overflowing with grass, alfalfa, clover, squash and other plants now. The whole inside is now planted opposite that outside row too, plus there are some added 4x8' shade table/raised planters. Here is a more recent photo:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Sulcata-Burrows--50846?highlight=burrow#axzz26BIMls8P
Upon closer inspection the little thing that caught my eye was THIS little guy:
As I ran for the camera, he started running for cover. I snapped a few pics and then scooped him up. I was dumbfounded. I was trying to figure out how one of my babies got from home back to the ranch... It took me a minute to put it together and realize what I was really looking at. I have no idea where the nest is/was. I have no idea who the mother or father is. I have no idea when the eggs were laid. My females are pretty regular and they tell me when they are going to lay. Nobody missed their normal time to lay, and whenever they "told" me they were gonna lay, they did, and each nest was found and dug up for artificial incubation. Well clearly I somehow missed one. I don't know if this is a nest from last year that over wintered or a nest from this year that was laid in the spring. We have had a very consistently warm summer, but this summer has had a lot of unusually warm nights too. I didn't think this was possible here...
My co-workers joined me in a very thorough search of the entire enclosure. We spent an hour or more going over every inch of the pen and can't find the nest hole where they are coming from. We DID find six more little siblings though:
I've got this "Magnificent Seven" set up in a 100 gallon tank now and the search for more will continue today. I'd really like to find the nest and open it up for study. I don't know how many hatched or when. These seven were literally spread from one end of the pen to the other. One was on top of the giant hill and two were way down in the farthest corner near the horse trailer. That's a walking distance of around 300'. A football field. Three were found alone and two were found in pairs hanging out together.
I can't even explain what a thrill this was. I'm still so excited. I intend to hang on to these guys and see how they turn out for a while. I want to see if there are any major differences between them and their artificially incubated siblings. Of course, anyone who knows me already knows they were soaking within minutes of being found...
One of them had some dried algae on his shell indicating that he had already found and soaked himself in one of my long standing puddles from the irrigation system. Seriously... How cool is THIS?
Mind you, this pen is 7000 square feet has a 200+' long run on one end and wraps around four sides of a building. It has lots of nooks and crannies, a pasture section, puddles, a water source, a big hillside, a big raised night house, shade tables, a big adult burrow that is at least 17' long/deep, logs, rocks, gopher holes, etc... Here are some pics if you haven't seen it:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Enclosure-Expansion#axzz26BIMls8P
Its much greener down there now and all those pens are overflowing with grass, alfalfa, clover, squash and other plants now. The whole inside is now planted opposite that outside row too, plus there are some added 4x8' shade table/raised planters. Here is a more recent photo:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Sulcata-Burrows--50846?highlight=burrow#axzz26BIMls8P
Upon closer inspection the little thing that caught my eye was THIS little guy:
As I ran for the camera, he started running for cover. I snapped a few pics and then scooped him up. I was dumbfounded. I was trying to figure out how one of my babies got from home back to the ranch... It took me a minute to put it together and realize what I was really looking at. I have no idea where the nest is/was. I have no idea who the mother or father is. I have no idea when the eggs were laid. My females are pretty regular and they tell me when they are going to lay. Nobody missed their normal time to lay, and whenever they "told" me they were gonna lay, they did, and each nest was found and dug up for artificial incubation. Well clearly I somehow missed one. I don't know if this is a nest from last year that over wintered or a nest from this year that was laid in the spring. We have had a very consistently warm summer, but this summer has had a lot of unusually warm nights too. I didn't think this was possible here...
My co-workers joined me in a very thorough search of the entire enclosure. We spent an hour or more going over every inch of the pen and can't find the nest hole where they are coming from. We DID find six more little siblings though:
I've got this "Magnificent Seven" set up in a 100 gallon tank now and the search for more will continue today. I'd really like to find the nest and open it up for study. I don't know how many hatched or when. These seven were literally spread from one end of the pen to the other. One was on top of the giant hill and two were way down in the farthest corner near the horse trailer. That's a walking distance of around 300'. A football field. Three were found alone and two were found in pairs hanging out together.
I can't even explain what a thrill this was. I'm still so excited. I intend to hang on to these guys and see how they turn out for a while. I want to see if there are any major differences between them and their artificially incubated siblings. Of course, anyone who knows me already knows they were soaking within minutes of being found...
One of them had some dried algae on his shell indicating that he had already found and soaked himself in one of my long standing puddles from the irrigation system. Seriously... How cool is THIS?
