I was surprised when a clutch of South African leopard tortoises hatched out of the ground today after a record cold winter. Many breeders of South African leopard tortoises leave the eggs in the ground to overwinter to break the diapause, as do I. We had the coldest winter ever recorded here with one night down to 0 degrees F. Many of the native trees froze as well as exotics (palms, eucalyptus, etc.). My turtle ponds had 3-inch thick ice on them. I assumed all the leopard tortoise eggs in the ground froze but that was not the case.

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