Young Burmese Star laying eggs!

G-stars

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Just thought I’d share, my 2014 female Burmese star laid 9 eggs last night. First time for her, she weighted in at 3700g before laying eggs. Males are 2015 and both weight in at around 1100g.

I have not seen the males mating with her at all so I guess time will tell if they are fertile.
 

kyel3840

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Just thought I’d share, my 2014 female Burmese star laid 9 eggs last night. First time for her, she weighted in at 3700g before laying eggs. Males are 2015 and both weight in at around 1100g.

I have not seen the males mating with her at all so I guess time will tell if they are fertile.
Let me know if they are fertile and if you are going to sale them please
 

PA2019

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@G-stars

Gus would you mind answering some more questions?

1) Did you notice any behavior changes or abnormal weight differences before, or was it a totally unexpected event?

2) Any idea how long the nesting took from start to finish?

3) Could you describe the area she chose? Sunny, shaded, and roughly the kind of soil; sandy, rocky etc..

Any info might be helpful with my group, thank you.
 

G-stars

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@G-stars

Gus would you mind answering some more questions?

1) Did you notice any behavior changes or abnormal weight differences before, or was it a totally unexpected event?

2) Any idea how long the nesting took from start to finish?

3) Could you describe the area she chose? Sunny, shaded, and roughly the kind of soil; sandy, rocky etc..

Any info might be helpful with my group, thank you.

Hey there Patrick,

1.I didn’t notice any behavior changes, but that’s partly because I wasn’t looking for any signs either. I just walked outside and happened to see her nesting. I weight my tortoises once a month, I knew she was getting to breeding size weight but didn’t expect her to breed or lay eggs until next year once the males had matured a bit. They are only 3.5 years old, where she is 4.5 years old. After laying eggs I picked her up and instantly felt her a lot lighter though, although I haven’t weighted her yet.

2. She began around 2pm and stopped around 10pm. It’s a rather long process, maybe a bit longer for her since it was her first time.

3. She choose a partly sunny/ shaded area in a part of the enclosure that is pretty damp most of the time. The soil is a mixture of clay and sandy dirt.
 

Markw84

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Congrats on the eggs, Gus. Hope they are fertile for you! Your males sound young - do they follow your females around frequently? Did you keep them together all the time, or give them breaks?

I had my 4.5 yr old lay this year. She laid her second clutch this year just this week. Her first on Sept 27. I also had one of my 7.5 yr olds already lay this year - just a few days ago.

My 4.5 yr old is only 2700g. She is my smallest and youngest female.

Since I'm sure Patrick wants to know...
I see increased activity levels with a female prior to laying. Normally males are much more active than females. Their most active time of day is in the evening, even when kept indoors. So I notice when a female gets more active.

Mine have lost about 10% of their body weight just after laying. My smallest weighed 2820g a few days before laying, and 2551G the day after. Her clutch of 9 eggs weighed 207g total egg weight. The larger female weighed 4525g the day before she laid, and 4062G the next morning after she laid. Her clutch of much larger eggs weighed 275g for just 8 eggs.

The first clutch was laid outdoors in pretty hard soil. Picked a spot mostly under a bush on a slope that hadn't gotten sun at all this time of year as it was next to a block wall. Took her about 5 hours to finish digging, then spent until early the next morning covering the nest. The next two clutches were just after I moved them indoors for the winter. So very easy digging soil in the nesting chamber. Both chose the same spot that was the most open in the enclosure and not under basking lights. They have options to lay under bushes here, but chose the open. They still both took about 2 hours to complete the nest and lay, but then about 4-5 hours before they were satisfied enough with covering the nest. They really spend a lot of time working the soll over and around the nest until it is virtually impossible to see where it was. I have a motion activated camera in the nesting chamber so I can go back and see parts of the process and when they start and stop certain phases.
 

Dan

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That’s amazing news, Gus! Congratulations! My early 2015 female laid a single egg yesterday as well. Must be that time of year!

Keep us posted on any other developments! You’ll possibly see signs of fertilization after a month’s diapause and a couple weeks of incubation as I understand it.
 

G-stars

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Gus,

Has there been any progress with the eggs thus far?

Hello Patrick,

The first 9 are now in the incubator, after 6 weeks of diapause. Haven’t candled them yet to see if they are developing. She laid 7 more a couple weeks ago, trying two different methods of diapause with half of that clutch and will be incubating all of them for temp sexed female. Trying to determine if diapause has any correlation to temp sexing.
 

PA2019

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Congrats Gus, watching this event must never get old! Was this hatchling (and the rest of the first clutch) the ones you diapaused for 6 weeks? I wonder if the other clutch that is being diapaused differently will show a higher or lower level of development upon hatching. Thanks for sharing!
 

Ranman

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Thats beautiful Gus. Congratulations. I hope they all hatch for you. Looking forward to future pictures.
 

Markw84

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Just happened to look in the incubator and found this little guy working his way out. This is from my females first clutch. She laid 3 clutches and a total of 25 eggs (1 she crushed). So I have 23 more to go.View attachment 265874
Congratulations, Gus. How are you incubating them? what temps and what diapause?
 

G-stars

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Thanks everyone, really excited. I have read how everyone diapauses a bit differently and decided to try 3 different versions for each clutch. The first one was diapaused at room temp (60-78F) for about a month and then incubated at 88.5F.

Second clutch was diapaused at 65F for a month, and third was at room temp, then 65F for, and back to room temp before being incubated.
 

Markw84

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Thanks everyone, really excited. I have read how everyone diapauses a bit differently and decided to try 3 different versions for each clutch. The first one was diapaused at room temp (60-78F) for about a month and then incubated at 88.5F.

Second clutch was diapaused at 65F for a month, and third was at room temp, then 65F for, and back to room temp before being incubated.
Thanks for the info. So this one is one that was diapaused at room temp for one month?

Coincidentally - I just had my first platynota for the year pip today!

IMG_0015.JPG
 

G-stars

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Thanks for the info. So this one is one that was diapaused at room temp for one month?

Coincidentally - I just had my first platynota for the year pip today!

View attachment 265928

That’s awesome congrats to you as well Mark.

This one is from the first clutch. So yes it was diapaused at room temp for one month. Took 75 days after diapause and a total of 112 days from the date it was laid.

What is your method? And/or methods? For incubating them?
 

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