You Tube video

[Yvonne G]

Don Williams of Bakersfield made a video of a baby desert tortoise emerging from its nest and taking a first meal of tortoise poop. A little boring, but still very interesting:

 

[Tom]

He showed me this video when I was at his place picking up cactus pads. Very cool. I'm glad he made it available to the public.

 

[Prairie Mom]

That was really cool and Don Williams seems like a character

 

[Carol S]

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Danny G]

It looks as tho the poop was purposely placed to have the baby eat it.
Maybe I dont understand but is it normal for a baby to eat tort poop as its first meal?

That was so cool to see his little head popping out!

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes. They are born with a clean gut. Eating a tortoise's poop will populate his gut with all the flora and fauna necessary for good health.

 

[Ciri]

This is really interesting! It totally makes sense – starting life with probiotics.

 

[Tyanna]

Do breeders place poop for a hatchlings first meal usually?

 

[Momof4]

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[bouaboua]

Great video. I enjoy watching it! ! !

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Love that video. Love that baby!
Hmmmm. I have a question.
If babies are suppose to eat poop to get their gut flora / bacteria started ....
could not getting this in to their stomachs early on contribute to hatchling failure syndrome, death later?
I ask for other species also. I mean, is there enough poop to go around and what if there isn't? what happens?

 

[stojanovski92113]

Thanks for sharing, interesting. I have really grown to love desert tortoises. They truly are beautiful tortoises.

 

[puffy137]

Hmm , now I know that my gut feelings about leaving those eggs in the ground & letting them emerge naturally was the right thing to do .I feel vindicated. I never even saw a yolk sac on any of them , I left them completely alone until they emerged into the light.