Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've currently got a Pyxis egg incubating over 12 months. It developed perfectly, no problems at all. It's still heavy and looks just fine. I've had many Pyxis eggs go 9 or 10 months. No problem. 12 months though? That's just too long. It's really starting to drive me crazy. Anybody else ever had something go on for this long? Thanks...

If it is still white I'd keep on waiting. If this idea of a diapause is true you realy don't know what triggers it or untriggers it so that could add one hell of a range on incubation time.

Most of my experience is with Leopard tortoise eggs. They can go 90 days to over 400 days.

The one Pyxis I hatched out went 6 months.

I'd say leave it alone.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I wanted you to say "go ahead and crack that bad boy open".

but I wouldn't.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

In my 40 plus years of keeping and breeding turtles and tortoises, I have learned that cracking eggs open when one thinks they should already have hatched on their own is just about as likely to kill the baby inside as to save one which might have been having trouble breaking through the shell. I might even say that the odds for tortoise eggs in general are 60/40 that one will kill a good baby which would have hatched on its own.

However, when considering the species Pyxis in particular, many more of their young die in their eggs for strange and unknown (to me) reasons. My theory is too much humidity, though I cannot prove it. Most dead Pyxis embryos I have found were not full term, as they seem to die about 30 days before they would have hatched; hence opening their eggs would have killed them as they would not have been ready to breathe.

I have developed a protocol for eggs which remain unhatched after I think they should have cracked open on their own: if you are able to candle the egg and see the baby move inside, then leave it alone. Candle every 12 hours and try to elicit movement by tapping the egg or changing position of the light. If you see no movement twice in a row, then open the egg.

Even this has sometimes caused me to open an egg too early, but I have recently saved a couple of babies which were just about dead and apparently couldn't break through the shells.

Where does this leave you in your current case? I would say try candling the egg and see if the baby is moving at all. If so, follow the above. If not, it is a crap shoot. You can try to moisten the egg slightly every other day or so for a week to see if it helps, though then you are creating humidity, which if done at the wrong time during the development seems to cause death of the little babies also.

Good luck.

Bill, did those Pyxis you helped out of the shell survive? My experience with both turtles and tortoises is that if they weren't stong enough to make it out of the egg, the had something that eventually prevented their survival. Snakes are certainly not this way, but I've never helped a turle or toroise out of the egg that made it. Anyway, thanks for the advice and I'll candle that egg and see what I see. I'll post an update if anything significant develops...

Hi Will,

I would say that roughly 7 of 10 Pyxis survived the first few months after being "rescued". The survival rate seems higher with Star Tortoises and Radiateds, though, for whatever reason. You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't, in this type of situation.

Can you get your hands on a fetal heart monitor or a stethoscope and try to hear the heartbeat or sound of blood flowing from inside the egg? This should tell you if there is life there. This is an idea I have always entertained, but not followed through yet, so am unsure how it might work if tried. If you do try it, let me know the results. Thanks,

BZ

Bill