Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After waiting 3 days.. (as usual)..look what finally emerged.. (incubated @ 85-86 F).. I just can't look at her enough! Could this be in my breeder's genes?

Terry

That's one of the prettiest tortoises I've ever seen.
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This may show a little more of the 'head' colors..

Terry

how luck you are -- how many does this make now? and how are the ones doing that had deformities? i hope they're still thriving, too...

Yes she is.. and yes "once again" I am blessed.

The "misfits" are eating like they should.. in fact 'LIL BUTTER' has a couple marginal/coastal split-scutes.. and just this morning nibbled on some romaine and strawberry!

This one was a "PIP" 12 hours ago.. must have been in a hurry.. small - wouldn't cover a half dollar.. notice all the yolk-sac.. # 10

Terry

Terry,-

what beautiful colors! Isn't it wonderful that your breeders obviously not only produce these nice 'orange' hatchlings, but now also the very light yellow type too?
Somebody else I used to be in touch with, Mike Greathouse from Reptilian Dreams, produces these types of hatchlings too.
It will be so interesting to see, how these colors develop over the years (as I am sure, that you will keep some of the prettiest ones). I have a two year old, that had orange scutes in the beginning (though not as orange as yours), and I find it hard to judge, if this orange has actually changed, gone lighter, or not. The thing is, that they look so orange in the beginning, because there are only a few growth rings around each scute. And as this changes and more and more brown or black rings are added on, the overall appearance changes.
It has been discussed on this forum earlier, how the nice ivory carapace lines in some Cherryheads change over the time, and while they seem to reach their maximum when the animals are around 5" in SCL, they fade at least in many of them as they put on further growth.
So I am looking forward to your observations as to how your orange and light yellow hatchlings will keep their color over the time!

Congratulations again, Terry,- they are wonderful,
Gaby

Wow, will it survive, being that small, and having all that yolk? Very cute hatchlings.

Of course she will survive.. already absorbing quite a bit of the yolk-sac. All of the eggs/hatchlings from the 'younger' Colombian females have been smaller than the Suriname/Guyana female eggs.. still waiting on their eggs to hatch.. none of them were laid until late November '04.

Terry