Reptile & Amphibian Forums

3 weeks old and doubled its' weight already. From 6 to 12 grams. He/she is an amazing chow hound for such a little tortoise.

Bill,
that's a BIG jump! what did you feed him with?

Mixed greens and a mixture of chopped vegetables and mushrooms. He and 2 brygooi babies that he lives with run to the food. It's really a lot of fun to watch...

Hi Will,
I was wondering if you could briefly tell me about your setup for your hatchlings. As you know I have several myself and was just curious to see what is working for you? Also have you noticed a large difference in hatchling size between the different subspecies? I know my arachnoides seem slightly bigger than my brygooi on average as hatchlings but it's just a few grams and may just be coinsidence(sp?).
Chad

Chad, I keep my babies on damp cypress and for the first few weeks I also keep a pile of wet sphagnum moss in one corner for them to burrow into. Otherwise nothing special. As far as the size of hatchlings goes, I have seen pretty wide variation across all 3 of the arachnoides subspecies. Both arachnoides and brygooi have ranged from 9 to 12 grams at birth and my 2 oblonga hatchlings have been 10 and a tiny 6 grams. I have a planicauda emerging now which looks like a real plumper. I guess that is a long answer the jist of which is that at least among my animals no one of the arachnoides groups has been consistently larger...

Thanks Will,
My setup is very simple as well. Almost exactly as yours. Mine have been outside a lot now that the weather has been so nice. They seem to be much more active under the natural UV. If you get a chance I'm sure most people on this forum would like to see the little planicauda hatching out. You might be only the second person to hatch out all 4 subspecies?
congrats.
Chad

I should be able to post pics later today. He/she is sitting in the back 1/2 of the egg just letting everything around soak in. This is really exciting as planicauda were THE goal for this season...