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Just wanted to share a couple photos of my newest hatchlings.

First... show off.
Second... that one with the white is really cool.

>>Just wanted to share a couple photos of my newest hatchlings.
>>
>>
>>
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Edited on November 6, 2011 at 07:14:39 by PHFaust.

Ed,

After 18 years raising the female from a hatchling, I feel like a proud papa! I've got to brag a little.

It will be interesting to see how long the white design remains. It is a cool looking little tortoise.

Jerry

Richard being in the rare glass of pepole that are in the 2nd. generation tortoises club means one thing and one thing only. YOUR OLD. Vic.......pic "teakwood"* phayrei

Vic, You've got to keep Richard & I straight. Richard is the "old" one. In fact when I first got these galops Richard optioned not to get them figuring he would be too old by the time they bred.

I had to decide between a pair of adult sulcatas or hatchling galops. I decided on the galops and Richard went with sulcatas. It really wasn't a bad decision for either of us, but now I've got sulcatas and Galops. If I hadn't gotten the galops then, I don't know if I ever would have ended up getting them. They are my favorite tortoise.

Jerry

Hay, funny how things work out. I was bord with having a big snake collection, sold everything off and was just buying new kinds of reptiles. I bought the Mt,tortoises on IMPULSE. Didnt know anything about them! As it turned out eather did anyone else. Everyone said Oh yea the one that die all the time! Congradulations though on your second gen. Galops that is quite an accomplishment, if nothing else it even unlikely one doesent flip over and die in all thouse years. You have to be very consistant in your routeen care. Your a Champ in my book my friend. Thanks for the story. I'll try to keep you guy's strate!Vic

Me...????... I'd be bragging way more. I've never seen that pattern in a baby Galap. Did you send any photos to Collette in Brownsville? I'd be curious as to what she thinks.

>>Ed,
>>
>>After 18 years raising the female from a hatchling, I feel like a proud papa! I've got to brag a little.
>>
>>It will be interesting to see how long the white design remains. It is a cool looking little tortoise.
>>
>>Jerry
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Ed,

I did send her photos. While all four of my hatchlings have faint white designs, the white on that one is much more vivid. You need to come down to the TTPG Conference next week in Phoenix and check them out!

Jerry

Great work, Jerry. You have done a truly fantastic job there!

Bill

I have no time off to make the TTPG meeting... so sucks.

So... does 2 go to Ken?

I don't know if I said this... don't change a thing for next year.

BTW... what are the ages of the adult pair?

>>Ed,
>>
>>I did send her photos. While all four of my hatchlings have faint white designs, the white on that one is much more vivid. You need to come down to the TTPG Conference next week in Phoenix and check them out!
>>
>>Jerry
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

not just the achievement
that top photo is the most dramatic of an emerging
new tortoise ever
almost looks blue-black
congratulations

what beautiful babies! i'm curious: how large are they?

The Galapagos hatchlings weigh from 65-75 grams and are about 2.5 inches.

How big and how old was the female? That seems tiny for a hatchling Galap.

>>The Galapagos hatchlings weigh from 65-75 grams and are about 2.5 inches.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

EJ, Different species but My Mt.Tortoises second gen. offspring were smaller than the first gen. Now that she is on the 3rd. season the babies are getting heaver. The best discovery was that the hatch rate and over all size and fitness improved to the best I could expect. Vic

I'm pretty convinced that it has to do with the size of the female that deposited the eggs and the number of eggs deposited. I've seen this in leopards and egyptian tortoises.

I would like to know the size of the female when she produced her first viable eggs.

Did you know the average size of a female Aldabra (on the island of Aldabra) is roughly 200 lbs. They reproduce at that size in the wild.

>>EJ, Different species but My Mt.Tortoises second gen. offspring were smaller than the first gen. Now that she is on the 3rd. season the babies are getting heaver. The best discovery was that the hatch rate and over all size and fitness improved to the best I could expect. Vic
>>
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

My females are still fairly small at 28". The eggs were about 2" long so a 2.5" hatchling is actually larger than the egg is long. The tortoises are folded in half in the egg and as they grow and unfold, they kind of shatter the egg.

The size of the eggs & hatchlings is often dependent on the size of the female. In other species I have some larger females which lay larger sized eggs resulting in larger hatchlings, however not all lay larger eggs.

I found records of galop hatchlings weighing 50 to 95 grams, so mine which ranged from about 65-75 grams are pretty much in the middle of the range.

At a talk by Walter Auffenburg I attended early in my Reptile intrest He said "Reptiles, it is all about math." I said to myself, oh no first Latin, now Math. I'm not sure if i'm realy going to like this! Well, I stayed at it, noted the weight and size and temps. of every reptile and eggs I've ever had. It tells a very important story at some point. It is the key to understanding reptiles. Tortoises are the most Mathematical cognative reptile in my opinion. VM

Jerry How was the weight of these babies (2nd. gen.) compaired to the clutch the mother came from.(1st.gen.)? Vic

i'm shocked that they can start out so tiny! i expected that such a large tortoise would have hatchlings more around at least 5-6 inches? shows what i know!

i love how in that first photo you can tell already that they are burly tortoises. his/her arms look thicker than his/her head is!

First of all way to stick with it and provide for those magnificent Tortoises for so many years. The pay off is amazing--Congrat's. Just love pics of hatchlings emerging from the egg and you caught this one perfect. Look forward to hearing in the future about the white markings and how they remain or change....celebrate---Richard
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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Congrats, they look great!

Congratulations jerry, what an achievement.
Best of luck with them, I’m proud of you.

How old and how big was the male?

Say Hi to Rich for me, I’ll get the DNA work done on my Galops soon.

Sam