"Wild" Sulcata Babies Hatched in Southern CA!!!

[mctlong]

Such an exciting mystery! Could the nest be hiding in that giant burrow?

 

[Redstrike]

This is really cool, Tom. Thanks for sharing and good luck finding that nest!

 

[Tom]

Such an exciting mystery! Could the nest be hiding in that giant burrow?

The earliest eggs in and incubator can hatch is around 90 days. I would guess that it would take even longer in a real nest with fluctuating temps and what not...

That burrow did not exist until mid July... Plus, they dont lay in their burrows. It's too cool for eggs to incubate once you get more than a couple of feet down.

Now it IS possible that some babies went down the hole. I'll have to make another trip down there to see. .

 

[Laurie]

How awesome Tom!! I'm sure you were ecstatic!!

 

[mainey34]

That is a really neat find..

 

[Dizisdalife]

Awesome. How exciting it must be for you, Tom, to get to experience this. They look beautiful. This also shows that life finds a way to continue even when the odds are against it. I think this is fantastic. I like your idea of leaving them outside most of the day and bringing them in at night to a humid hide. Keep us posted on this experiment.

 

[acrantophis]

RE: "Wild" Sulcata Babies Hatched in Southern CA!!!

Very cool!

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

RE: "Wild" Sulcata Babies Hatched in Southern CA!!!

Congratulations Tom! That's so cool! That must have been such a great surprise! I know how big those pens are and I'm dumbfounded right now! Hope you find more! They are so cute! Great story!

 

[BigD9]

Thats awesome!!!

 

[Dizisdalife]

The earliest eggs in and incubator can hatch is around 90 days. I would guess that it would take even longer in a real nest with fluctuating temps and what not...

That burrow did not exist until mid July... Plus, they dont lay in their burrows. It's too cool for eggs to incubate once you get more than a couple of feet down.

Now it IS possible that some babies went down the hole. I'll have to make another trip down there to see. .

Tom, the burrow is the one place that you have not looked yet. If you had not seen the ones you have above ground when you did would they have made it into the burrow? Instinctively the babies must know that the burrow is where the adults keep all the Mazuri pellets and other good stuff they are going to need to survive. I wish I could come up and look in the burrow with you. The possibilities here are really exciting.

 

[tortadise]

Fantastic. I tried the same thing few years back after I found one that I missed while egg catching. It worked great here incubating them in the ground. However It was hard knowing the hatch rate as well the ones that could possibly not make it out. Get a probe thermometer and test the soil temps about the depth your females dig and log it for a year. You would be surprised at the temp differences. We get about that hot if not hotter.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

RE: "Wild" Sulcata Babies Hatched in Southern CA!!!

Awesome find Tom!!! Made my day

 

[Urtle]

That is so cool Tom!! U are a very lucky man I would have loved to have found hatchlings as good looking as those by surprise. Keep us posted PLZ

 

[Yellow Turtle]

RE: "Wild" Sulcata Babies Hatched in Southern CA!!!

This is very cool. I wish we can have some updates on these magnificent seven too

 

[Tom]

Get a probe thermometer and test the soil temps about the depth your females dig and log it for a year. You would be surprised at the temp differences.

I know where to get one of those. I am going to try it out. Amazing how they can do so well in the ground, given the wild temperature fluctuations above ground.

 

[Benjamin]

Get a probe thermometer and test the soil temps about the depth your females dig and log it for a year. You would be surprised at the temp differences.

I know where to get one of those. I am going to try it out. Amazing how they can do so well in the ground, given the wild temperature fluctuations above ground.

This very interesting, very good information.
This year I have been incubating most of my ova in boxes on a shelf in my turtle room. Low temps of about 72F and highs of 92F occur on occasion. My target temperature range is 78F-88F. This methods works great. This year I have had I.forstenii and elongata hatch under these conditions, K.homeana too. Also G.spengleri and plenty of C.guttata. Fluctuating temps seem to be a good thing for chelonian eggs.

I have a hunch I have ova from forstenii, elongata, and homeana in the ground outside. I need to search for them, I doubt I will be as fortunate as you have been.

Keep the updates coming.

 

[Tom]

Benjamin, I saw a presentation at last year's TTPG conference that showed the temperature fluctuations in the nests of some North American turtles. In one extreme case there was a low of 50 and a high of 139. This was IN the nest, not at the surface. And healthy hatchlings eventually erupted from that nest. Temp fluctuations of 30-40 degrees in one 24 hour period were normal.

Kind of puts thing in perspective. Shows us how little "we" know about incubating reptiles... Now that I know it CAN happen, I do intend to investigate this further.

 

[Benjamin]

Benjamin, I saw a presentation at last year's TTPG conference that showed the temperature fluctuations in the nests of some North American turtles. In one extreme case there was a low of 50 and a high of 139. This was IN the nest, not at the surface. And healthy hatchlings eventually erupted from that nest. Temp fluctuations of 30-40 degrees in one 24 hour period were normal.

Kind of puts thing in perspective. Shows us how little "we" know about incubating reptiles... Now that I know it CAN happen, I do intend to investigate this further.

A friend of mine who is breeding cuora picturata swears by temp fluctuations. His eggs fluctuate mid 60s at night to 90 during the day.

A few years ago I noticed that C.guttata and C.pani hatchlings incubated 85-87 in an incubator were smaller than those that fluctuated about 10 degrees day/night. They had a slightly shorter incubation time as well.

 

[TheTortoiseWhisperer]

OK, I do realize it's ridiculous but your story didn't just make my eyes water, I had tears flowing down my face….my co-workers already had an idea I was off my rocker when it comes to turtles….now they are convinced I'm off my rocker……I think the happy tears came more because I know how much you love your torts and how passionate you are about their care so I could only imagine how exciting all this is to you…..Congratulations Tom!!!! I am so super happy for you!!!!

 

[TylerStewart]

Congrats! Your temperatures are for sure good for natural hatching, as ours are very similar and we find baby sulcatas every September (almost only in September). I found baby leopards in an outdoor pen yesterday (found the nest in an above-ground hidebox). Last week we were finding baby hermanns and Greeks running wild in the outdoor pens. I love looking for babies, I feel like a kid at Easter all over again. I know I have some Indian star eggs in the ground that I could never find and expect/hope to find babies any day now. With some species, I get much better hatch rates from natural incubation than I do in the incubator.

Our pens aren't massive like your 7,000 square foot area, but a baby Greek or hermanns is 1" long and great at burying themselves, so it makes me nervous even walking in there during the fall. After rain is usually when we find babies.