Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
My box turtle laid 5 eggs on June 6th, 4 of them have collapsed and 1 of them is fertile. I have held a flashlight up to the one good looking egg and have seen the red vein and also saw some movement inside the egg. The 4 other eggs show nothing and are deteriorating. I have the egg in a covered plastic shoebox with air holes on a mixture of vermiculite and potting soil. My questions are; should the egg be placed on wet paper towels instead? And if so, at what point would I switch out the substrate? Now, or when it actually starts hatching?
After the egg hatches, how soon would the baby need a typical set-up of a heat lamp, water dish, etc., as opposed to the plastic shoebox?
Thanks for any info., this is my first clutch of eggs!

I've never hatched eggs on my own, but a friend of mine breeds ball pythons, and does the same setup for the eggs as you're doing. Others on this forum could probably help you out, but that's all I've got.
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Cliff

My Collection:
0.1 Florida Box Turtle
2.2 Eastern Box Turtles
1.1 Ornate Box Turtle
0.0.1 Desert Ornate Box Turtle
1.1.1 Redfoot Tortoises
2.1 Russian Tortoises
1.0.1 African Sulcata Tortoises
1.0 Burmese Python
0.1 Virginia Opossum
1.0 German Boxer
1.0 Pit Bull
1.1 Chihuahuas

I wouldn't move the egg at this point. As long as the vermiculite is slightly damp, he'll be OK and will probably dig in after he hatches. I wait until they hatch out completely and leave them alone for a day, then gently mist any substrate off with a spray bottle and move them into another container with crumpled wet paper towels and leave them there for a couple more days until the yolk sac is completely absorbed. If yours has been kept @ 80-83F, it should be hatching within a few days to a week. Mine usualy hatch at 57-59 days. Good luck.

Thank you for your response, I will leave the egg alone until after it hatches.

Good luck with your new guy (or gal). I have one egg I hatched almost 5 years ago that is now an almost mature handsome male EBT. I also have two sibling yearlings from egg I removed from a roadkill EBT that are doing great! Unlike birds, the egg may hatch slowly. It may even stay in the open egg for a while. Hatchlings are TINY and dry out quickly. You may want to keep in something like a shoebox for the first couple months, in a semiaquatic set up. This worked well for me, very shallow water and a pile of Sphagnum for it to crawl on and inside. It may not start eating for a week or two. Try small, live foods. Small earthworms or pieces of earthworm worked good for me, as well as small aquarium snails (shell and al!).
I don't use UVA/UVB lights on my boxies. I do get them out, for 10 or 15 minutes of natural sunlight every week or two. I do feed a very varied diet, and collect a lot of live food when they are small (sow bugs, centipedes, earthworms, crickets etc.). The shells are smooth and well formed and perfect. This is just what works for me, you may do something different. They don't move much when they are small like that, preferring to hide. I kept my first hatchling inside for 3.5 years. He went outside last Spring and hibernated outside for the first time last winter. I think he will be fully mature, and about fullgrown, by next Spring (age 5.5 ). Enjoy!