Now for something different...turtle eggs

[Buslady]

I've got one good turtle egg, hopefully in 2-3 months I'll have a drop dead gorgeous baby ornate wood turtle. This is my first real good egg so it's a big deal. REALLY big deal as this species is not easy to hatch.

What's a kicker, this egg was laid in June...I didn't think it was going to develop at all. I checked them 3 days ago and there's VEINS! Red structured lines going to the to air pocket on top for oxygen exchange and on one end of the egg there's a little lump which might be my turtle baby! WOOOO!!!!!! :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/buslady/veins.jpg

And pic of mom & dad:

Daddy Donatello
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/buslady/Animals/DSC05944.jpg

Momma Jessie:
http://www.buslady.com/images/Chelonians/chowtime.jpg

[Katie]

YAY!! that's a fertile egg if I ever saw one :D


I have a new clutch of Beardie eggs freshly laid yesterday...and a gravid Uromastyx mommy too. I had gotten out of breeding for profit, but I guess when lizard love happens you can't stop nature :D

[iris]

Cool! :D

I love candling eggs.

[Jo Dawn]

Oh yay! Congrats Buslady. Keeps us posted! :)




...I wanna turtle.

[Buslady]

YAY!! that's a fertile egg if I ever saw one :D


I have a new clutch of Beardie eggs freshly laid yesterday...and a gravid Uromastyx mommy too. I had gotten out of breeding for profit, but I guess when lizard love happens you can't stop nature :D

I love beardies, soooo cute!!! But I'm over my limit in critters. It's funny, I'm not doing anything special to incubate these eggs. They're in a warm room, in a deli dish (my baby ball came in!) and it has a little tiny cup stapled to it for water. That's it. oh and vermeculite to put them in. but that's all! I tried the incubator route, I have a little giant given to me...didnt work and noisy. So I figured I'd just stick them in this room and see what happens. And I get veins.
crazy.

I so hope it works. I've been trying to hatch ornate woods for 2 years when Jessie began laying for me. Her first year here she was settling in, you know how it goes...they're both WC turtles, once they both became comfy...the sparks flew! hehe...

[Katie]

Vermiculite is the BEST for hatching out reptile eggs. It holds moisture and teperature perfectly. I have to use a incubator for my dragons.....but I doo all my other species at room temperature. I use tupperware sandwich sized boxes to incubate in and mist when they look dry.

I do try and incubate my crested geckos at a slightly higher (78-80 F) temp for a higher female ratio...because they are worth more than the males to people who buy them.

I also breed Veiled Chameleons and Jackson's chameleons (which give live birth THAT is cool) When my veileds' lay eggs I just incubate them at room temp...but it takes FOREVER..like 9-10 mos.

[Draconic]

Those are some cute turtles. I had some box-turtles a while back, and for some reason, Slash could never get with Shelly to give me a new baby "S"-turtle... =(

[Buslady]

Vermiculite is the BEST for hatching out reptile eggs. It holds moisture and teperature perfectly. I have to use a incubator for my dragons.....but I doo all my other species at room temperature. I use tupperware sandwich sized boxes to incubate in and mist when they look dry.

I do try and incubate my crested geckos at a slightly higher (78-80 F) temp for a higher female ratio...because they are worth more than the males to people who buy them.

I also breed Veiled Chameleons and Jackson's chameleons (which give live birth THAT is cool) When my veileds' lay eggs I just incubate them at room temp...but it takes FOREVER..like 9-10 mos.

Yeah that's the trouble with Rhinoclemmys' eggs, if can be 3 mos which i had first aimed at but then I found out about diapause which for them happens in nature. So okay, I cooled them before warming them up. I kept them down low, actually on my russian tort's terrarium stand and it worked. So, I'm learning how to incubate these guys. It can be 3 mos or 9 mos, I just hafta get the *right* conditions...
As for temps, I dont care if the baby's boy or girl, it's my first and I'm keepin it. Honestly I'd wanna keep ALL of their babies, I want a herd of Rhinoclemmys to run around the backyard in their own little paradise with a shallow pool and trees and whatever.

[Katie]

LOL

Before he died, my hubby became fascinated with Eastern Box turtles. He had 16 acres of land in Prospect, TN that was partially wooded and partial pastureland with two ponds. He wanted to create a turtle sanctuary out there.

He was the one that got me into herpetoculture...he started with the beardies and geckos and wanted to keep all the offspring....when he died I had 103 geckos, 6 chameleons, 4 beardies, 2 Uromastyx, and 6 rosie boas. I've narrowed the heard quite a bit over the last 3 years :D