Reptile & Amphibian Forums

THE EGGS HAVE LANDED !Two F2 clutches of Black Mt.Tort. eggs, three more to go. Anyone else having this much fun yet! Lucky for me they only take 64 days from a liquid center to prehistoric beast. VM

Vic,
I seem to remember you saying no F1s of the M. emys emys have been produced yet (I know we are looking at phayeri here). I was curious if that was because the offspring from wild adults that breeders have aren't old enough yet or there is just some mystery as to why captive born emys emys aren't procuding.

Ross

Or I guess F2s rather....

I have grown a cb male up that has been breeding for two years and should have some this year if the moon and stares are lined up just right!!! As far as anyone else I'm not sure as Adults from the wild were plentyful for decades up until just a few years ago. I dont see them being any more diffacult, they are really the same animal only smaller (gen.spea) with the same breeding and nesting methods.( They can lay huge clutches like phayrei despite Das,and others publications. I've had one lay 60 eggs. "One" of the breeding clues at the magic moment of ovulation/sperm retention utillazation is a short dry season after a long wet season. Their should be some CB M.e.emys out their that have reached breeding weight (not years old). We shall see later this year. Mine dont nest until late Aug/Sept meaning Oct/Nov hatch. Thanks Vic

I think you living in Florida has a little bit to do with it.

>>I have grown a cb male up that has been breeding for two years and should have some this year if the moon and stares are lined up just right!!! As far as anyone else I'm not sure as Adults from the wild were plentyful for decades up until just a few years ago. I dont see them being any more diffacult, they are really the same animal only smaller (gen.spea) with the same breeding and nesting methods.( They can lay huge clutches like phayrei despite Das,and others publications. I've had one lay 60 eggs. "One" of the breeding clues at the magic moment of ovulation/sperm retention utillazation is a short dry season after a long wet season. Their should be some CB M.e.emys out their that have reached breeding weight (not years old). We shall see later this year. Mine dont nest until late Aug/Sept meaning Oct/Nov hatch. Thanks Vic
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Living in Fl. helps but even here can be problemadic. It has to be a rainy/wet summer a short dry winter/spring then IT HAS TO RAIN ALOT quite suddenly. The thunder/drop in pressure I can not duplcate and it has grate bearing on it. We have had two years of little rain which caused my worst year in twenty years last season. There are also signs that males coming along with a STRONG and agressive desire to breed has a trigger. It is quite possable a signal to the females to lay this season. This is "the thin line bewteen chaos and stability"*. Without the males stimulation they might wait for the following season if condishions were not up to par for her that season. Leaving the males to pester them can also be a bad call as well. The females bite (they go for the eyes) and push them around, turning them over or themselfs. You have to find that perfect moment to intervien or not, or you end up with the females abandoning the nest and scattering the eggs on the ground for up to four weeks. For years people seperated the sexes at this critical time because that is just what people did with tortoises, BUT Manouria nesting is more compairable with Croc's and Gator's than other tortoises. Most Manouria have been bred in captivity in Fl. Texas is secound, but then again Wash.State, Central Park Zoo NY,NY and a 12x12 room in Austria have had success. VM pic....sometimes you get a suprise.